


Foul Me Once

by PensGal11



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Banter, Basketball, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Female Friendship, Fluff and Humor, POV Haruno Sakura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:27:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 35,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25814287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PensGal11/pseuds/PensGal11
Summary: Konoha University senior and starting power forward, Sakura Haruno, believes that this year will be the one that sees her team finishing on top. Too bad an attractive and infuriating new referee seems determined to stand in her way.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi
Comments: 104
Kudos: 122





	1. The Beginning of the End

“Maybe if you put that big forehead to good use, you’d finally block a shot!” 

Sakura scowled at her blonde friend and teammate’s taunting before bending over her knees to catch her breath.

“I guess you win this one, Pig. But don’t think you’ll be so lucky next time.” Her friend rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be like that, Forehead. You almost made me work for it this time.” Despite her words, Ino panted heavily while clutching her side to alleviate a cramp. Sakura stamped her foot in annoyance while brushing away some of the sweaty pink strands that had come loose from her ponytail over the last few hours of play. 

“I see you gasping for breath over there just as much as I am. You know, after scraping by with an 11-9 win, you sure have some nerve-” Sakura took a step towards Ino, who was quick to take one herself, shoving her fuller chest right in that of her slightly shorter and less-well endowed friend and rival. 

“I think you’re just jealous that you and your flat chest couldn’t stand a chance against-”

Before any punches could be thrown or any further verbal barbs tossed about, a shrill whistle screeched through the air, effectively freezing the two young women and forcing their heads to whip towards the offending noise. They had the decency to look cowed as they stared into the annoyed face of their coach, who was standing at the gymnasium’s front door, the well-manicured hand that had just sounded her whistle now aggressively fingering the light switch. 

“Ino. Sakura. Practice ended two hours ago. If you want to start in tomorrow’s season opener, then you’d better get the hell out of my sight so I can lock up and go home.”

The two athletes were quick to reply with a simultaneous “Yes Coach Tsunade!” before hurrying to the sideline to gather their bags and change out of their basketball shoes and into their street sneakers and sweats. Slinging their bags over their shoulders, the girls jogged past a testy (as usual) looking Tsunade and her assistant coach, Shizune, who gave them a soft smile as she held her pig (and the unofficial team mascot, Tonton) in her arms, chirping quick farewells, and then stepping outside into the chilly November night.  
“Damn, it’s later than I thought it’d be,” Sakura mused as she squinted into the lit streetlamps outside of the second home that was their beloved home court that sat at the center of the big and beloved college town of Konoha.

“Time sure flies when you’re getting your ass whooped by your beautiful best friend!” Ino smirked, nudging Sakura’s arm with her elbow. Sakura scowled for a brief moment before it melted into a smirk of her own.

“You were good today, Ino. Waterfall’s not gonna know what hit them tomorrow.” 

“Well, thanks for staying late with me, Forehead. I can’t believe that this is the beginning of our last year…” the blonde sighed, scuffing one of her purple shoes on the cobblestoned path that stretched out into multiple routes too dark to see at this time of night, which spread all around Konoha University and the large town of Konoha, itself.

“Of course! I really do think that this is our year. All of us seniors are at our peak and we’ve put in the work all off-season. Nothing’s gonna stand in our way.” Sakura’s green eyes gleamed in determination, fist clenched and raised as she thought ahead to everything that came before, everything that was to come. Ino just laughed, shaking her head.

“If you say so, Captain, then it must be true… Then again, you also said you were gonna beat me at one-on-one tonight, so, maybe you can’t be trusted after all!” 

A vein bulged on Sakura’s forehead. 

“What did you say, Pig?!” Ino just flicked Sakura in the forehead.

“Oh, can it, Forehead. You better get home and get your beauty sleep. I can’t think of anyone who needs it more, after all,” she said with a smile too sweet to be sincere. The rage building in Sakura only grew further. 

“INO!!!!!” But before any punches could be thrown, Ino was already sprinting away, leaving only the echo of her cackling in her wake as she made her way to the apartment she shared with Tenten. Sakura sighed, unclenching her fist before her lips curled into a smile. Tomorrow was the first game of the season, her first game as team captain, her first real opportunity to bring Konoha University the first women’s basketball championship title in its entire history of a school. While she had plenty to prove, she knew she was up to the challenge. Nothing and no one could stand in her way. 

With a quiet but impassioned “Shannaro!” mumbled like a prayer, Sakura split off the opposite direction of Ino and headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic, so please feel free to leave comments, reviews, anything of the sort. I'll be updating haphazardly from here on out (amount of chapters TBD, but probably something between 10 and 30? Like that narrows it down at all, lol). I don't own Naruto or the game of basketball, I just love 'em both. Thanks for reading!


	2. The Mysterious New Ref

_ Friday, November 6th. 5pm. _

* * *

“There you are, Sakura! We’ve been waiting. You already missed the whole first quarter.”

Sakura smiled sheepishly at her friend and point guard before joining the rest of her team at the front of the bleachers.

“Sorry, Ten, got caught up talking strategy with Shizune. How’re they looking?” 

“Oh, excellent, ethereal, the apple of the University’s eye, as usual,” Ino bit off snarkily, causing the rest of the girls to roll their eyes. It was no secret that Konoha University, despite its talented roster of players on the women’s team, prioritized the men before all else. The school’s latest act of “generosity” to the women’s team was the day’s opening season schedule, a double header men’s game followed by the women's. Sure, the stands were currently packed and rowdy for the guys, but the university was well aware that only a third at most would stick around for the women’s game. Danzo, the stodgy old athletic director with his antiquated ideals and gender roles, would just do as always: shrug and claim that he was just doing what was best for Konoha University as a whole, and whatever happens from there is merely out of his control. 

“What’s  _ really  _ looking good is this new ref, though. Damn, I can’t wait to have him for our game. I’d get that whistle blowing all night long-” Sakura gasped, shoving her hand over Ino’s mouth.

“Kami, Pig, shut your big mouth for once, will you? Hinata looks like she’s about to pass out.” 

Indeed, the quiet, starting small forward’s usually pale face was currently tinged pink with embarrassment. 

“Well, he  _ is  _ rather mysterious…” the shy girl murmured just loud enough to hear over the roar of the crowd. Sakura blanched as Tenten and Ino cackled.

“Not you too, Hinata… And hey, what about Naruto?” If Hinata looked pink before, she was positively tomato red now, with a nervous sweat starting to accumulate at her forehead underneath her dark bangs. 

“But of course he doesn’t hold a candle to N-n-naruto-kun.” Hanabi, who was sitting next to her sister, just scoffed, beyond used to her sister’s lifelong love-slash-obsession concerning the KU men’s basketball team’s boisterous blonde starting power forward. Sakura was too busy now staring at Sasuke’s ass as he bent over a play drawn on a small white erase board that he seemed to be explaining (with his usual annoyed -- though Sakura liked to call it  _ smoldering _ \-- look on his face) to the rest of the team in the last few moments before the second quarter would begin, to notice this elusive ref that had made an impression even on the demure Hyuga heiress. She snapped out of it when the buzzer sounded, eyes darting to the scoreboard, and found herself pleased to see the KU boys already leading 20 to 5 over Waterfall.

“I wonder what he’s hiding under that mask. I bet he’s so hot that he has to cover up his face so that the teams he’s reffing don’t, like, pass out or forget what they’re doing in the middle of a game,” Tenten sighed, patting the ever-present twin buns atop her head. Sakura suddenly turned to her friend with a quizzical look. 

“Wait, mask? What-” Sakura trailed off, finally taking a moment to really take a good look at everyone on the court. She saw Naruto, Choji, and Sasuke set up on the court in various positions around and within the three point line. She saw Shikamaru looking bored as ever as he prepared to inbound the basketball to Neji as the boys prepared to go on the offensive to begin the second quarter. She saw the home team’s bench, improbably stacked with a roster of nearly all seniors (plus sophomores Konohamura and Udon) -- Shino, Kiba, Sai, and Lee -- each equipped with a unique and impressive skill set that culminated in making this team the powerhouse it was today. She saw the team’s assistant coach, Gai, who, as usual had a gleam in his eye while sporting his traditional tight green tracksuit and bowl cut, and muttering to himself about how the power of Youth would prevail, and the head coach, Asuma, who smoked a cigarette (even though it was neither allowed indoors nor good for the athletes to breathe in) while scanning over the defense as they got in position, his posture slouched in an expression of ennui that could rival Shikamaru’s. She saw Waterfall, already looking exhausted, and their coach, clearly upset because he knew that this was only the beginning of their uphill battle and that Konoha hadn’t even begun to really exert themselves yet. 

She saw… the refs. The refs, the zebra-stripe wearing rule setters who she typically didn’t pay too much mind to, unless they were making things harder on herself as she attempted to go to work on the court. She quickly sized them up, recognizing all but one as regulars she’d had for home games over the duration of her college basketball career. 

Sakura quickly ran through the usual rotation of refs in her fast-thinking and analytical brain. There was Genma, an overly flirtatious (to the point where he bordered on disgusting) man with shoulder-length brown hair he held back with a bandana tied to his head and who spent most of the games idly chewing a toothpick, not making many calls, and occasionally, ogling the female players (and then receiving a swift and powerful punch from Tsunade for doing so, although it never quite seemed to teach him a lesson). There was Kurenai, who, with her red eyes, dark hair, and womanly figure, was as striking as she was fair, to the point where you wouldn’t even know she was married to Asuma unless you were told otherwise (or if you saw them outside of the gym, where they couldn’t seem to ever be apart or even really keep their hands off each other), making calm and fair calls without bias; her background as a star player for Konoha’s women’s team a little over a decade ago also gave her extra credibility, respect, and admiration amongst the player’s on Konoha’s women’s team in particular. There was Yamato, with his short brown hair and big eyes that seemed to dutifully track all of the court, helping him make fair calls swiftly and accurately, and often in an attempt to avoid contestation or confrontation. Speaking of confrontation, of course, there was Anko, the least liked of all the refs, which was just fine by her. Anko loved dispute and confrontation more than anything else, and she’d often go out of her way to rile up anyone around her, whether it was a player, coach, fan, or fellow referee. She proudly boasted the record for both highest number of people ejected from the stadium, as well as most fights unnecessarily incited. 

Sakura noticed that the refs for today’s men’s and women’s games seemed to be Anko, Kurenai, and… a mystery man. THE mystery man, that her friends and teammates seemingly couldn’t stop mouthing off about. Sakura silently sized him up with a slight frown, as she found it exceedingly difficult to get any kind of read on this man. Between his baggy black pants and slightly loose black and white striped referee uniform shirt, it was hard enough to make out any clear definition to the man’s body, although he clearly was on the lankier side, as he seemed to be tall and not very heavy. But to top it all all, he wore a surgical mask that covered over half of his face, just leaving two grey eyes -- one of which was bisected with a thin, pale scar -- and a wild, silvery crop of hair. Sure, the guy was mysterious in a way, as he left literally everything up to the imagination, but Sakura couldn’t help but balk at her friends, as she failed to see what could be so hot about a seemingly middle-age man she couldn’t actually see much of anything of. 

“I don’t get what you all are going on about, he just seems like a lazy old man to me,” the pinkette muttered while absentmindedly flipping her long ponytail over her shoulder. She raised her brows, unimpressed, as the mystery ref slouched with his hands in his pockets, twirling his gleaming whistle around his finger lazily and looking as if he’d rather be anywhere else but there as he waited for the Konoha boys to inbound the ball. Ino just glared at her.

“Seriously, Forehead, you have the worst taste in men-”

“Which we already knew,” coughed Tenten as she not so subtly narrowed her eyes at Sasuke. Ino sighed, following her gaze.

“Like yeah, Sasuke is hot, we all know that. But he’s a grade-A douche, and he’s never treated you right. What you need is a  _ man _ , and I mean, you missed it, but in the first quarter-”

“Just, the way he’d blow the whistle,” Tenten chirped from her seat on Sakura’s left. 

“And his  _ fingers _ ,” Ino purred lasciviously from her perch on Sakura’s left, eyes narrowing on the ref’s hand as he twirled the whistle. 

“He makes very good and accurate calls,” Hanabi chimed in, causing Sakura to groan. 

“Not you too, Hanabi. You’re too young and innocent to get swept up into the ways of these horrible girls I call my friends!” Hanabi just smirked. She recently started seeing Kiba, so while she may be young, innocent… not so much. Ino, thinking along the same lines, just laughed. 

“You should’ve seen the way he was calling Sasuke on his shit earlier. I’ve never seen anyone besides Naruto do that,” the blonde sighed dreamily. “The crackling tension between two alpha males on the battlefield we call a basketball court, there’s just nothing like it,” Ino punctuated her statement with a chef’s kiss. Tenten wrinkled her nose.

“Although you started to sound scarily like Gai towards the end there, I can’t help but agree. There’s just something about this new guy… underneath that mask, he’s gotta be hot. And whenever he gets over his cold or whatever is causing him to wear it, we’ll know for sure.” Sakura just shook her head at Tenten as the younger girls on the team -- Moegi, Yuki, Saki, and Kana -- tittered amongst each other as they followed along through the whole exchange. The pink haired captain just puffed up her chest as she turned her eyes back to the game, watching Shikamaru lazily bounce the ball to Neji, whose large pale eyes scanned the court ahead of him, as usual, not missing a single thing. 

“As long as he makes the right calls during our game, I really don’t care what he looks like or what his deal is. Whoever he is, he’s gotta be better than Anko, so let’s just hope he and Kurenai can keep things from turning into the shit show that tends to ensue whenever that psycho is around.” Her team couldn’t help but make noises of agreement. Tenten shivered as she gazed towards the purple haired referee who was cackling after sticking out her leg and tripping a Waterfall player that was backpedaling past her.

“Seriously, whoever thought it was a good idea to give that woman a whistle-”

“-Or a job,” Sakura muttered,

“-deserves to get the shit beaten out of them by Tsunade, no punches pulled!” The girls laughed loud enough for Anko, who was strutting up the court after Sasuke sunk yet another three, to hear, and she whipped her head around to get in their faces, fixing them all with a sneer.

“Looks like the peanut gallery is back and louder than ever!” 

“Don’t you have a game to ref, Anko?” Sakura retorted, unafraid (even though, if she was being honest, she did feel just a little afraid of this unpredictable and volatile woman). 

“Ugh, fuck you, Haruno, you’re gonna regret mouthing off to me today.” Ino was quick to lean in front of her front, further pushing herself into the rowdy ref’s face.

“Don’t you have more little boys to trip? We’re kind of trying to watch the game.” Anko just glowered at the blonde, exhaling in a sharp hiss before stomping off towards the other end of the court. The girls laughed once more, and Sakura just couldn’t seem to help but let her typically Sasuke-centric gaze drift briefly to the mysterious new referee that had already seemed to make quite the impression on her team on the night of her long-awaited last first game of the season. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO MUCH to my readers, especially those who are leaving kudos and comments! I am really appreciative of your feedback and support, and it gives me the drive to keep going in this crazy time in the world where it can be a bit tough to find motivation to do much of anything. 
> 
> Special thanks to chapter one commenters: blatistic, lapp, crestedgeck0, Fainauriel, and Akatsuko!
> 
> Next chapter, our two protagonists finally come mask to face... what could go wrong :)


	3. Reffing for Dummies

Unsurprisingly, the Konoha Men’s basketball team crushed Waterfall, a 100 to 34 route that ended with all KU players getting some playing time (even benchwarmers like Konohamaru and Udon), Rock Lee and Gai sobbing, embracing, and waxing poetic about how the Glory of Youth has prevailed yet again (nothing new there), and Sasuke just barely outscoring Naruto to be the game’s leading scorer (much to the blonde’s chagrin). But as two-thirds of the crowd (leaving just about a third willing to stick around and watch the women’s game, as expected) filed out of the gymnasium chanting excitedly about the Will of Fire, what stuck with both the crowd and players most was the apparently animosity between Konoha’s star player and their new, mysterious silver-haired referee. 

People had come to consider Anko synonymous with animosity (you nearly can’t spell “Anko” without it, after all), so it was a surprise to see it coming from somewhere else, especially somewhere so new and unexpected. Everyone knew that the talented young Uchica was a bit of a snob with a high opinion of himself, but no one could deny that he was a genius of basketball amongst his peers (and pretty easy on the eyes, too). And yet, it hadn’t been since Naruto that anyone had seen a person get under Sasuke’s skin so easily and so quickly. The new ref seemed not to care about Sasuke’s stardom or family pedigree, as he was quick to call him on fouls and various minor infractions whenever he spotted them with his keen eye. Obviously, this didn’t sit well with the Uchica, who was fairly unused to being called out by anyone on anything. The spectators merely ate it up, seeing it as a display of drama and two different personalities colliding, as Sasuke spent much of the game glowering harder and harder at the seemingly uncaring older man. Very few heard it when Sasuke spat “It seems that you’re still blind scum,  _ Hatake _ ,” after the referee called the player for traveling with a lazy blow of his whistle and happy eye crease, and even fewer thought to question that they seemed to be previously… acquainted. 

Sakura had missed this little altercation altogether, as she and the rest of the team had left the game to gather inside their locker room midway through the third quarter to get prepped and in the zone for their  _ own  _ upcoming match against Waterfall. While during the men’s game, Sasuke’s eyes had been dutifully trained on Sasuke(‘s... butt; And although she’d deny it, she wasn’t fulling anyone. She  _ never  _ was), now, in the locker room, she zeroed in on Tsusande as she stood before them, and Shizune, behind her, who was holding a dry erase marker in one hand and unofficial team mascot Tonton in the other, standing before the white board, ready to create a game plan.

“Listen up, ladies, because I’ll only say this shit once. Most of the crowd will be gone by the time you get out there. Most of the people in Konoha couldn’t give a shit about women’s basketball and whether you win or lose, or frankly, whether you live or die.” 

A lot of the players (and even Shizune) blanched at that. Ino, however, who was often too foolish (or brave, if you’re feeling generous) to know when to shut her mouth, raised her hand to ask, “Coach Tsuande, Is this supposed to be motivating?” To which her coach responded by hurling a clipboard at the brash player’s face (which she dodged easily -- they were used to Tsunade’s temper by now, and had to be after learning the hard, bruising, and painful way which they’d come to jokingly dub “agility training”).

“Shut it, Yamanka. Anyway, as I was saying, no one really expects anything of you. And  _ that _ is why you will win.” The younger players shot each other skeptical looks, but the seniors nodded at their coach, beginning to understand where she was heading with this slightly unorthodox pre-game speech.

“You ladies know by now that I don’t coddle, nor do I exaggerate or lie. I don’t hand out compliments for free, so when I say that I believe that this year will be yours to win the championship, I mean it. Women are strong, and no one is stronger than a Konoha woman. If you can survive training with me, you can survive anything,” all of the girls nodded grimly at this. 

“Fools like Danzo have spent their whole lives doubting you, doubting us, and that is their downfall. Because while they and opposing teams have been underestimated us, we’ve worked harder. We’ve worked smarter. Now, here we are with the best team we’ve ever had, four seniors, two juniors, two sophomores, and a freshman, balanced and ready to fight for what’s yours. It won’t be easy, but it’ll be worth the battle. At this point, the only ones who can stand in your way are you. This game is ours to win, and it’s the first of many to come. Don’t let me down.” The team, moved, nodded and smiled softly, not used to such inspiring and long speech from their hardened coach. Tsunade grimaced, slightly annoyed by their apparent happiness.

“For real, brats, don’t let me down. I made a lot of bets that you’d win the whole thing and if I lost we’ll all be in for it, so you better win,  _ or else _ .” 

“...And there it is,” muttered Sakura, slightly peeved, as all of the girls deflated a bit at their coach’s last statement. As a notorious gambler and drinker, although someone not necessarily the best at either, this behavior was pretty par for the course for Tsunade. Even so, she was one of the best basketball players, male or female, to ever come out of Konoha University, and her team respected her immensely. If she believed they could win, then they would. Shizune stepped forward before the situation could devolve into an argument on the head coach’s gambling habits, nervously laughing. 

“What Coach Tsunade  _ means  _ to say is that she believes in you and that with the team we’ve got now and the work we’ve done up to this point, there’s nothing that’s gonna stand in our way.” While the team cheered at this, Tsunade just glowered and clenched her fists, muttering “Isn’t that what I just said?” Once the cheering died down, Tsuande pointed at the white board.

“Tonight’s starters: Tenten, you’re running point, Hinata, you’re small forward, Hanabi, shooting guard, Ino, center, and Sakura, power forward.” The girls nodded. The all senior (plus Hanabi) lineup was the best and tightest they’d ever had; As the squad sat there dressed in their white (and red accented) Konoha home uniforms, they couldn’t feel more ready for this. Tsuande directed her attention towards Sakura, who was standing tall towards the back of the room. 

“Anything to add, Haruno?” Sakura just grinned and cracked her knuckles.

“Let’s kick some Waterfall ASS!” The entire team cheered, throwing their fists into the air to tell, 

“SHANNARO!” 

Before long the boys’ final buzzer sounded. It was time to head out. 

* * *

A buzzer marked the pre-game warm-up period’s end. A modest crowd of friends, family, a few devoted fans, a few of the opposing team’s fans, and the Konoha men’s basketball team were spread about the stands. Despite the game being the home-opener, it was only barely a bigger crowd than usual, as the Waterfall team was known for being one of the worst in the league, and thus, not much of an opponent to watch. At the moment, none of that mattered to Sakura Haruno as she stood at center court across from the Waterfall team captain, a short and serious senior player with light brown hair. Sakura took a breath, feeling calm, zen, and in the zone, as she waited for the ref to join them so they could initiate the traditional show of good sportsmanship (bowing to each other and wishing each other a good game) so they could get the game underway. But Sakura’s calm, zen, and focused feelings began to dwindle as she waited… and waited… and waited… and-

“Oh Kami, where the hell is the referee?!” Sakura whipped her head around, seeing her team huddling with Tsuande in front of their bench, Anko talking to (harassing) Kurenai on one end of the court, and… the silver-haired, unknown ref that her friends seemed to be fixated on. Sitting in the bleachers amongst the fans. Reading a BOOK. What the hell?! Sakura couldn’t help but feel outraged as she stormed over to the man who seemed in no rush to do his job. She stood before him, glaring down, waiting for him to look up. When he didn’t, she cleared her throat, loudly and obnoxiously. 

“Can I help you?” Kakashi Hatake drawled, not bothering to look up from his reading material, which, on closer inspection, Sakura could now see was…  _ Reffing For Dummies _ ?! Oh no. This couldn’t be happening. This masked man was… a complete and total idiot. Putting on a fake, close-lipped smile, Sakura replied in the most saccharine tone she could muster.

“You could help me by getting on the court and doing your job, old man.” He glanced up, briefly, a small and unseen smile forming under his mask.

“Old man, huh?”

“Yes,  _ old man _ . You’re so old that I don’t know how you can read that book without a pair of glasses on. You’re so old that you wear a mask to cover up all your wrinkles and liver spots. You’re so old that I bet you couldn’t even hear the buzzer and call for captains to meet at center court-”

“Maa, well if my hearing is so bad, how did I hear you and your friends objectifying me earlier?” Sakura, stunned, took a step back as if she’d been struck. She began to sweat a little bit in a way that had nothing to do with the exertion from warm-ups. 

“O-objectifying? You? You must be senile, we did no such thing!” 

“Oh? Really? I recall some buzz during the second quarter about my ‘good and accurate calls.’ And needing to wear a mask to prevent my face’s beauty from causing people to pass out.” He put his hand on his chin and looked towards the ceiling as if he were deep in thought. “And I think there was something about blowing a whistle all night long-”

“AH ENOUGH! I get it. You have freakishly good hearing and a high opinion of yourself. I wasn’t saying any of that crap though, so don’t go looking at me!” Sakura shrieked, leaning towards the infuriating masked man, fists balled at her sides. Her rising volume and palpable rage was starting to draw the attention of both the crowd and two teams waiting to start the game. Sakura, however, had no idea, as she could only see red rage, her old friend (that she swore she’d gotten under control by now), blocking out everything that wasn’t this aggravating man and his stupid masked face. 

“Hmm I seem to recall someone calling me a ‘lazy old man.’ And here I thought Captains were supposed to set a good precedent…” Sakura didn’t notice the twinkle in Kakashi’s eye as he teased her in his low and bored-sounding voice. Instead, she only tensed further, raising one of her fists and shaking it at him.

“You, you’re- You’re messing with me. Kami. No one messes with Sakura Haruno and lives to tell the tale, old man. NO ONE!” Despite her threat and palpable killing intent, Kakashi just gazed at Sakura through droopy, tired eyes. 

“Ah, is that so?” And then he immediately went back to reading. Sakura scoffed in disbelief.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re even worse than Genma!” Kakashi perked up a little at this.

“Worse than Genma? Now  _ that  _ I take offense to,” with a long-suffering sigh, he slowly stood up, tossing his educational book to the side.

“I suppose we could start the game, then, if you’re done making a scene, Ms. Haruko,” he drawled. Sakura snarled, nearly spitting as she got in his face.

“It’s HARUNO, you ass! And making a scene?! I’m not MAKING A SCENE-” except, she was. She really was. Sakura paused briefly to noticed that the entire gymnasium was silent and staring their way in shock, amusement, and -- in Tsunade’s cast -- rage. Even Sasuke was watching the altercation, much to Sakura’s chagrin and embarrassment. Her race quickly flushed in embarrassment as she tried to recover, taking a step back and smoothing her ponytail in a weak attempt at appearing in control.

“I’m not making a scene,” she said more softly, though still not quite convincingly. 

“Ah, of course not.” Sakura’s eye twitched.

“Let’s just start the game or whatever,” the pinkette mumbled before making her way to center court, where she bowed stiffly at the bewildered Waterfall captain, muttering “good luck” before stiffly making her way back to her teammates and coach, who were all staring at her. The gym was completely silent until Anko started cackling, no doubt finding utter joy in the pink haired girl’s pain and embarrassment. With that noise, everyone slowly shook out of their reverie, and Kakashi made his way towards the scoring table on the sideline to pick up the game ball before leisurely taking it back to center court. 

Meanwhile, in the Konoha huddle, Tsunade looked just about ready to deck Sakura.

“What the hell was that, Haruno? You just embarrassed me, all of us, and especially yourself! Shit, Danzo is gonna have a field day with this…”

“Don’t worry, Sakura, I thought it was kind of hot,” Tenten said with a wink, nudging the now deflated Sakura with her elbow.

“Ugh, Ten, disgusting. And Coach, come on, he was even reading a book about how to be a ref, the man is a totally incompetent fool. I was just trying to-” Tsunade stuck up a perfectly manicured hand, effectively silencing her player at once.

“I don’t care. Just get out there and play. Pull something like that again, however, and I bench you.” 

Sakura just nodded grimly before the final buzzer sounded, cueing the two teams’ starters to make their way to center court where Sakura’s new worst enemy stood… twirling the basketball on his pointer finger with his eyes closed? What the  _ hell _ ? The pink haired power forward’s anger spiked once more, and she took a few deep breaths to try to calm herself before everyone set themselves up for the tip-off. As she made her way past her captain, Ino couldn’t stop herself from elbowing her pink haired friend, wearing a shiteating grin that only served to erase any of Sakura’s half-baked attempts at regaining her cool.

“You’ve really done it now, Forehead,” Sakura just shoved the blonde to center court.

“Shut up, Pig!” And as Ino crouched across from Waterfall’s center, preparing for Kakashi to (no doubt lackadaisically) toss up the ball to start the game, Sakura couldn’t help but think that she must truly have the worst luck in the world.  _ But there’s no way it could get worse, right?  _

Before she could dwell on it further, Ino won the jump ball. There was a game to play. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Atenas and crestedgeck0 for leaving comments, to blatistic, Leahlost, Yunnan, and meekmillsmiller2222 for bookmarking the story, and to everyone who is leaving kudos and reading! I really appreciate it (and you're helping to keep me inspired, so thanks for that). 
> 
> Hope you're all well. 
> 
> Until next time!


	4. Wins and Losses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! 
> 
> Sorry it took me a little while to update. I've just moved halfway across the country and so the prepping (I am both a slow writer AND packer, it turns out) and getting settled bits ate up my time. But now that I'm getting more settled, I'll try my best to update more often, or at least more regularly. 
> 
> Regardless, thank you all so much for your readerships, comments, kudos, and bookmarks! I appreciate and continue to be inspired by it all :) Stay safe and healthy, all!

There was not one part of Sakura that wasn’t completely tense. With the November night’s chill biting what little skin wasn’t covered by her sweatpants and hooded Konoha Women’s Basketball sweatshirt, the young woman seemed caught somewhere between decking the next person to so much as look her in the eyes and completely shattering into an emotional mess. She stomped ahead mindlessly, letting her feet carry her wherever they would, as long as it was away from the gymnasium, away from her team and that disaster of a game, away from that asshat referee. The pink-haired spitfire allowed herself a moment to think back on the events of the last few hours, to wonder how things unraveled as they did, how she could keep it from happening again…

_ They were only a minute and a half into the third quarter when Sakura was called for her fourth foul. Tsunade yanked her out immediately, subbing Moegi in as Sakura took her place next to her head coach on the bench. No words were said between the two; None needed to be, for Sakura knew better. One more foul and she was out of the game. _

_ It was disappointing for Sakura and Tsunade alike, as the older woman – who was known for her own explosive temper that had manifested in her playing years in the form of thrown chairs, screaming matches, and multiple ejections – had worked hard with the young captain in her first two years on the team to control that raging temper within herself so that she could set emotions aside, or at least let them fuel her in a more positive way, to perform to the best of her abilities in games. So she planned to sit her star and captain for the rest of the third quarter, wherein she should have been using this time productively to watch her team as well as the Waterfall players, to see they needed to rethink their strategy or if any other adjustments could be made for the KU girls to give them an extra edge. _

_ Except Sakura wasn’t watching her team. Instead, she stared daggers at her newest enemy, the aggravating and moronic silver-haired referee (whose choice of pre-game literature, it seemed to Sakura, was only applicable in correctly labeling him as a dummy, as it did nothing, in her humble opinion, to make him anything close to a decent ref). He’d been the one to call her on our four of her  _ completely bogus  _ fouls so far, looking like an idiot as he blew his whistle underneath his lame surgical mask so that the attached string seemed to hang from his mouth, his eyes either half-lidded and looking completely bored, or curved into creases that she couldn’t help but read as mocking, and she didn’t know what was worse: his apathy or his laughter. _ __

_ Sakura’s latest infraction? An offensive foul,  _ apparently _ , as she gave her defender what she thought was a very reasonable nudge of the elbow to the gut (a love tap, of sorts) to give herself some space before she attempted to take a shot. She was called for the foul, this time with his infuriating eye crease mouthless smile (and he had the gall to seemingly enjoy making her life miserable. Was he some kind of sadist? Did he get off on seeing her face go red and blood boil? The sicko…), and so afterwards found herself justified in glaring daggers at the covered-up ref who couldn’t seem to care less. And it’s not like her team  _ really  _ needed much of her attention and input at this point, anyway. They were already leading Waterfall 64 to 40 by the time Sakura was benched, and with 18 of those points coming from the captain herself, she’d figured a slight lapse in her focus was at least a little justified. _ __

_ What was left of the crowd seemed almost bored as they surveyed the game that was so clearly in the bag for the Konoha women, even without them at full strength or pushing themselves very hard. Of course, there was always Naruto and Lee to loudly and embarrassingly cheer for them, but otherwise, everyone seemed a little checked out. Sakura was extremely disheartened to see Sasuke absentmindedly scrolling through his phone, not even attempting to pretend like he was interested in the game. In fact, he seemed ready to leave at any moment, and probably would have already if Naruto wasn’t gripping his shoulder and pinning him to his seat in a (clearly fruitless) attempt to get his friend and rival involved in the game before them. Sakura briefly frowned at the dark-haired object of her affections _ .

I’ll give him something to get excited about! When I’m back in the game, I’ll get them all to look our way, Shannaro!

_ With this in mind, Sakura smiled with renewed focus and determination before turning back to the clock. A little over a minute was left in the third quarter. Now could be the perfect time to get in there and make a big statement that would add just a little more energy back into the game and get the fans a little more invested before the fourth quarter started. And she knew just what to do. She leaned over to Tsunade, who wasn’t even trying to hide that she was openly drinking sake from a flask in the middle of the game. _

_ “Coach,” Sakura whispered. Having been engrossed in both the game and her imbibing, Tsunade jumped a bit at the interruption. _

_ “I’m not even close to drunk, so save me the lecture, Haruno-” Sakura rolled her eyes at her coach’s antics. _

_ “Please, I know you well enough to see it’d take you several more of those flasks to get anywhere close to drunk,” Tsunade smiled proudly, for some reason taking this jab at her worryingly high alcohol tolerance as a wonderful compliment. _

_ “Anyway, I want you to put me in,” Tsunade narrowed her eyes at her captain. There was only about 50 seconds left in the quarter by now. _

_ “Now? With four fouls? I thought I smacked the stupid out of you long ago, Haruno!” Sakura narrowed her eyes, her face settling into a look of grim determination. Shizune, who had been half listening to the conversation, leaned over Tsunade to pipe in. _

_ “Sakura, I hate to get too cocky, but this one looks like it’s already in the bag. I know you’re eager to be on the floor as much as possible but with the lead we have, we don’t really need you right now. There’s nothing wrong with a break, you know.” With a high, the pinked haired player shook her head. _

_ “I get that, but you know me well enough to know I’m not doing this purely for the sake of my ego or as an attempt to break the scoring record. The crowd isn’t into it. Half of what’s left will probably leave by a minute into the fourth quarter unless we grab their attention. We can’t dunk and I don’t want us to be annoyingly flashy for the sake of it like the guys, but there’s a lot we  _ can  _ do. I want to take a charge, break things up, get everyone pumped again.” _

_ Sakura glanced at the clock. There were only 30 seconds left to make her move. She was already on her feet when Tsunade growled, “I hope you know what you’re doing, kid,” and punctuating it with another gulp of her sake. Sakura rushed to the scoring table, crouching beside it just as Hinata knocked the ball out of bounds. Kurenai glanced at Sakura before blowing the whistle to quickly sub her in.  _ At least there are  _ some  _ good refs out there,  _ she thought to herself with a smirk. _

_ “WOOO SAKURA-CHAN, GIVE ‘EM HELL!” _

_ “YOU ARE OVERFLOWING WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH, OH BEAUTIFUL SAKURA-SAN!” _

_ Sakura’s good mood couldn’t even completely be tainted by Naruto and Lee’s mortifying screaming. She now had 17 seconds to take a charge. Perfect. Her team had retreated to a two three zone defense inside of the three point line to save energy and face, as their man-to-man full court press had quickly overwhelmed the Waterfall squad and forced them to make many-a turnover. Tagging out Moegi, she rushed over to her team to reset them before their opponents inbounded the ball. _

_ “Box and one, I’ve got their shooter. I’m gonna take a charge, so just clear the lane so I can take the impact,” the other girls nodded, mostly smiling, although Ino looked a bit put-out. _

_ “Oh Forehead, even when we’re destroying the other team, you always have a flare for the dramatic,” Sakura elbowed the blonde. _ __

_ “I do  _ not _ , Pig!” Ino just smiled knowingly but could say no more as the ball was inbounded to Waterfall’s point guard. The Konoha girls quickly rearranged themselves, with Tenten and Hanabi defending at the elbows on either side of the foul line and Ino and Hinata down low on the blocks. Sakura, meanwhile, rushed to cover Waterfall’s ace, their captain, backing off a little to let her get the ball. _

_ 10 seconds left. _

_ It was sent the captain’s way. Sakura opened her stance, seeming to leave her right side open for a clean drive and easy lane to the hoop for one last shot. _

_ 8 seconds left. _

_ The Waterfall captain took the bait. She drove to the hoop, but Sakura quickly recovered her ground. _ __

_ 5 seconds left. _

_ Ino moved out of her way so Sakura could plant herself on the lower block, right in the Waterfall girl’s path. _ __

_ 3 seconds left. _

_ The Waterfall girl barreled forward, and Sakura completely absorbed the impact, letting herself be knocked hard into the ground and then flying a back little more than necessary for dramatic effect (okay so maybe Ino had been a  _ little  _ right). The girl shot and it went in as the buzzer sounded and a whistle blew. Amidst it all, Sakura was filled with a sense of satisfaction despite the slight soreness in her already-bruising ass as she’d both drawn the foul  _ and  _ the interest of the crowd. There was a rumble of noise from more than just Naruto and Lee in reaction to her bold move. Sakura couldn’t stop smiling as Tenten and Ino helped her up, the former looking concerned and the latter grinning nearly evilly—wait, what? _ __

_ And upon closer listening, Sakura noticed that the audience was reacting less to her action and more to the ref’s call. An offensive foul against Waterfall, right? And yet… she first looked at Kurenai, who, as she was on the other side of the court, hadn’t made the call, and, if Sakura was being honest, looked a little perplexed. She turned to Anko, who was cackling gleefully while staring at Sakura, clapping giddily in reaction to something. Reaction? Oh crap. She hadn’t made the call either. That could only mean— _ __

_ The silver haired ref. His mask covering half of his face. His eyes creased into that infuriating, stupid, it seemed to her, definitely  _ mocking  _ impression of a smile. His whistle’s string hanging underneath his mask. And his arms positioned in a way that seemed to call- Wait, no, this couldn’t be right. He couldn’t be _ __

_ The ref removed the whistle from beneath his mask. _

_ “Offensive foul on Konoha’s number 4. Shot is good. One foul shot. But first-“ _ __

_ “No.” The pinkette, face blank, took a step towards the ref. _

_ “Ah,” he grunted in response, his eyes still creasing in that asinine, mocking way. “I believe you’ve fouled out of the game, number 4-chan. You need to get off the court.” _

_ “No!” Sakura growled, taking another step forward, fists clenched as her expression contorted into a wrathful glower, causing her to call-but bare her teeth at the man. _

_ “Yes!” he replied cheerfully _

_ “You  _ bastard _ , I took a charge. I get that you have a scar and you’re an old man, but seriously, are you blind? Even my grandma could’ve made a call like that-” _

_ The ref merely nodded placatingly, as if he sympathized with Sakura and understood how she felt. This only made her blood boil more. She took another step forward and without even realizing, began raising one of her clenched fists. _

_ “Your grandmother must be a very wise woman. Maybe she can show me the ropes on how this whole basketball things works?” Sakura snarled, her hand reaching out on instinct to grab the ref sent from Hell’s shirt, getting in his face to yell, “Maybe she could, if she wasn’t DE- _

_ The sharp piercing of Anko’s whistle cut through Sakura’s screaming, causing the captain’s hands to drop off the ref’s shirt, but in no way lessening her rage that had become so all-consuming in that moment that her inner self was chanting at her to “Whoop his ass!” until nothing sounded better… But before she good, Anko yanked her by the back of her jersey, causing the fuming girl to stumble back. _ __

_ “That’s it, Haruno, you’re out of here.” Sakura gasped. _

_ “Excuse me?!” The sadistic ref only grinned meanly in return. _ __

_ “You’re ejected, Haruno. You’ve embarrassed yourself enough as it is,” her expression changed to one of mock-innocence, her voice saccharine sweet, “but you should  _ never  _ threaten a referee! Hurting people is very, very bad, don’t you know?” Sakura scoffed; This bullshit coming from the most violent and purposefully antagonistic person she’d ever met? Ridiculous. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to run, especially as she looked at her furious coach and disappointed assistant, at her stunned team, at the whooping crowd (even  _ Sasuke  _ was smirking and nearly openly laughing at her outburst), and at that dickhead of a masked ref, who had the gall to look a little surprised right now, his eyes widened in the only seemingly genuine display of emotion she’d seen from him all night. She narrowed her eyes at him before he met her gaze, taking a half step back in surprise at the intensity and slight killing intent of it. Sakura couldn’t even take a second to revel in the fact that she’d rattled the seemingly unflappable and unaffected fool, as she took a step his way once more. _

_ “I’m never going to forget this, old man. I’m going to get you fired. I’m gonna embarrass you like you’ve embarrassed me today. Hell, I’m going to haunt you after I die. So don’t forget the name Sakura Haruno. Because that’s the person who hates you more than anyone else in the world.” _ __

_ And with that, she stormed off, leaving the ref standing there, for once, shocked speechless, while the crowd gleefully chanted “Sakura! Sakura!” and clapped as she made her way out. She couldn’t hear them. She couldn’t hear anything except for the blood roaring in her ears as she stomped to her team’s locker room, sitting alone to wait and stew until the game ended. After about a minute in solitude to the sound of distant dribbling and shoe-squeaking in the background, she was hit with what she’d done, what she’d said, how spectacularly and publicly she’d fallen apart. She couldn’t help but feel mortified, and doubly so as the captain and supposed face of her team. _ __

_ Once the game ended and her team had cheerfully filed into the locker room around her, Sakura expected to be yelled at by her coach, but Tsunade’s quiet disappointment was somehow so much worse. After congratulating the girls on their 82 to 53 win and then letting Shizune run through a couple of areas they need to improve upon or adjustments to be made for next time, the coach stowed her flask to level Sakura with a hard look. _

_ “Haruno, don’t embarrass me like that again.” Sakura flinched as if she’d been hit, and the rest of her team fell quiet. _

_ “I am so sorry, Coach. Even though that horrible ref was making all the wrong calls, I was still way out of line-” Tsunade clicked her tongue as her player, shaking her head. _

_ “All of Hatake’s calls were correct. He had a great eye, and no one knows the game better than him. Don’t blame him for your own shortcomings.” Shocked, Sakura gaped, her mouth opening and closing without any idea of how to respond to the coach she had at the very least expected to back her up on at least this. She settled on pressing her mouth into a thin line, hanging her head. _ __

_ “In any case, I won’t let an… outburst like that happen again. I promise.” At that, the corners of Tsunade’s mouth lifted just the slightest bit into a ghost of a smile. _

_ “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” But before she or anyone else could respond to this somewhat bizarre statement, Tsunade continued. “That’s all for now. Nice work, ladies. You’re off this weekend. Enjoy it. We’re back to practice on Monday morning. Now get out of my sight.” Tsunade then left the locker room muttering about how she needed a drink as Shizune waved and smiled at the players before trailing after her boss. The team then cheered, ready to celebrate their win and rare weekend off by hitting a local bar (that, for the underclassmen’s sake, conveniently didn’t card) but Sakura wasn’t in the mood. Her teammates didn’t push her too much this time, and even Ino, for once, didn’t force her friend to come out with them. Instead she just said, “Well, you  _ have  _ to come to the party at Naruto’s tomorrow. No excuses!” _

_ Sakura gave her a weak smile, still reeling from everything that had just gone down on the court and in the locker room. “I’ll be there tomorrow. Sorry I can’t come tonight, Pig. I just need some time alone.” _ __

_ At that, Ino’s gaze softened. “No need to explain to me, Forehead,” then she grinned, putting her friend in a sweaty headlock, “but tomorrow we’re going to get so wasted we forget all about tonight’s game!” _ __

_ Sakura chuckled at that, nodding before wriggling out of her friend’s stinky grasp. Tenten, Hinata, and Ino gave their captain quick embraces and reassuring words before filing out and reaffirming that they’d see her tomorrow. Before she knew it, Sakura was alone. She replaced her uniform with some Konoha sweats, grabbed her bag and basketball out of her locker, and then left the gym outside of a back door without talking to anyone else and without looking back. _

And that’s, apparently, the chain of events that made Sakura’s feet lead her to the park near her apartment at 9:30pm. Luckily, the outdoor basketball hoop was lit by streetlights and the park’s own gleaming floodlights that continue to glow despite the emptiness of the surrounding area. Sakura mused to herself that since the park didn’t officially close until 11 on weekends, that’d give her plenty of time to get some extra practice in. While part of this was the captain punishing herself for her mistakes and outburst in the game, mostly, this was just the best and healthiest way she knew to let off some steam. As her friends drank themselves into a stupor to celebrate their win, Sakura would practice. And so, as she stepped onto the cracked and familiar outdoor, for the first time in hours she smiled and felt truly at peace. When she had access to a hoop and a ball, she was home.

* * *

Kakashi couldn’t help but wrap his arms a little tighter around himself. Even his worn old ANBU sweatshirt was not enough to protect him completely from the November night’s biting chill. He felt like an idiot now for wearing underneath save for a thin undershirt, but after the day he had, he couldn’t stand to wear that stupid standard referee shirt for any longer than he had to. With a sigh, he quickened his pace, figuring it’d either warm him up a little more or get him home faster (despite his seemingly laziness he was truly all about efficiency).

_ I fucking hate this job _ , he thought to himself with a tinge of embarrassment, as apparently only a day around hot-headed brats was enough to rile him up, although he’d never show it, of course. All Kakashi wanted now was to get home and take a long shower that’d wash the day off of him, or at the very least, give him some sort of task to focus on that would drown out some of his own thoughts.

Honestly, the man was more annoyed with himself than anything else, because he couldn’t seem to understand why the pink haired captain’s words bothered him. He typically wasn’t one to put much stock in anything people had to say about him, especially when they didn’t know him at all, but there was just something about her and her fury and determination that had him feeling annoyed, chastened, and amused all at once. What did he have to feel bad about? All of his calls were correct; Tsunade surely would’ve given him a piece of her mind if they weren’t. But if there was anything he knew, it was basketball. Sometimes, when he was being completely honest (and a bit morose) with himself, he thought the sport was all he was good for. And even then, his involvement in it seemed to make things go to shit for those around him. This last game was just another example to add to the long list. Sighing, Kakashi decided it just wasn’t worth worrying about. A job was a job and if this is what the university’s dean thought was best, then so be it.

Getting lost in the motions of trying to keep fast and warm – and also lamenting the fact that even with the streetlights, the dark fall night made it too difficult to read his book without straining his eyes – Kakashi was surprised to suddenly be shaken from his thoughts by the familiar and comforting sound of a basketball bouncing. He froze momentarily to gaze at the park he usually had to pass to get home to his apartment, eyes zeroing in on the familiar basketball court he used to play on as a child. Startled that he’d even stopped (as he usually tended to avoid or brush by anything that reminded him too much of his youth), he found that even as he focused with his usually pretty sharp senses, he was unable to tell who was practicing, as the baggy sweatpants, large sweatshirt, and hood pulled over the figure’s head left just about everything up to the imagination. Instead, Kakashi was left with a slight feeling of déja-vous.

With a low whistle, he couldn’t help but appreciate the precise and near-flawless shooting form that only came from hours and hours of practice. As shot after shot sunk into the net with a satisfying  _ swift  _ from everywhere from the lower blocks to the three point line, Kakashi couldn’t help but admire this person who could be anywhere doing anything but was instead diligently practicing basketball outside on a chilly fall Friday night. Honestly, when he thought of it like that, the person reminded him a bit of himself. With that thought, coupled with a humorless chuckle, Kakashi Hatake continued his brisk walk home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those curious about or confused by the basketball stuff, especially when it comes to the different defensive terms I threw in there, I found a pretty good resource (https://protips.dickssportinggoods.com/sports-and-activities/basketball/basketball-101-common-defensive-strategies) to help explain!
> 
> Man to Man: "This aggressive style of defense can be easily identified by the fact that players are matched up with an opponent based on their position, ability or size. As the name suggests, your main goal as a defender when playing man-to-man is to guard and defend your assigned opponent."
> 
> 2-3 Zone: "This is the most common zone layout. Two players stand high at the free throw line, while the remaining three defenders guard the baseline. This zone defense is great for defending baseline and corner attacks, as well as securing rebounds."
> 
> Box and One: "One of the most common combination defenses, this setup leaves one individual to guard one specific player, usually the star opponent or player with the hot hand, while the rest of the defense forms a box shape in the paint."
> 
> Hope that helps! If you have any other questions, just lemme know in the comments :)


	5. Thank Kami for Friends

There was no getting out of this.

With a sign, Sakura opened her front door, less to be welcoming and more to stop Ino’s incessant banging. Without so much as a greeting, Ino muttered “Finally!” before stomping inside, her loose, long blonde hair swishing in her wake.

“Oh yes, why, do come in, dear Ino. A pleasure as always!” Sakura muttered. She turned back to the open door where Tenten offered her an apologetic smile before stepping inside, thrusting two bottles of white wine into her reluctant hostess’s stiff arms.

“For welcoming us so graciously into your home,” Sakura huffed a laugh, accepting the bottles and peering at the labels.

“Ah, the cheap stuff. You shouldn’t have.”

“Alcohol is alcohol, forehead. We’re here to get you ready and make sure you actually go out tonight. You’re not wearing that are you?” Ino’s muffled voice emendated from what Sakura could only woefully deduce was her closet.

“The alcohol’s fine, but what’s wrong with my clothes?” She glanced down at her green sweater and loose black pants that only just skimmed her legs, vaguely hinting at the shape of the defined muscles underneath.

“Sakura, you look like a librarian,” Tenten pointed at her, a smirk on her face. “I mean, what’s with the swearer, the pants? So loose! Girl, you look twice your age!”

“I’ll have you know these pants are J-Crew. They’re very tasteful. Besides, it’s getting cold out. The better question is why aren’t you wearing sleeves?”

“Who needs sleeves when you can get someone else to keep you warm?” Sakura rolled her eyes at her blonde friend’s lascivious tone, noting with horror that the pushy girl’s voice seemed to be getting closer.

“Put these on,” Ino shoved a red crop top and tight white ripped jeans into her friend’s arms, atop the wine bottles. Sakura rolled her eyes.

“All you ever think about is getting laid, Pig. Some of us have more important things-”

Tenten cut in, leaning forward to dramatically stage whisper, “Sasuke will be there.” That did the trick. It _always_ did the trick, both Tenten and Ino thought, equal parts bemused and annoyed. Sakura perked up immediately.

“Sasuke-kun?” Ino huffed.

“Yeah, duck butt hair will be there, so you better dress to impress. Which in his case usually means wearing as little as possible, since he seems to go for the easiest thing around.” Sakura slammed the wine bottles on her narrow kitchen counter, rattling a few cabinets with the impact and making Tenten wince.

“God, no, not the wine. I can tell we’re gonna need it…”

“Tenten, relax, your precious wine is fine. What isn’t is _Pig’s_ uncalled for rudeness towards Sasuke-kun! I thought you liked him. We fought over him!” She couldn’t help but glower harder as she notice the look on Ino’s face turn almost pitying.

“That was freshman year, Sakura! Then I saw what a douche he is. You know me, I’m not judgy when it comes to casual hookups but he doesn’t treat girls well. He doesn’t treat you well!”

“Of course he does! He’s sweet to me!”

“If he’s so sweet, why does he only talk to you when he wants to hook up? You guys have done some stuff through the years but has he ever asked you on a date? Has he texted or called even just to ask how you’re doing?” Sakura spluttered. She hated it when Ino did this, bringing up Sasuke and how he’s just wasting her time. She’s Sakura Haruno, she doesn’t waste her time! She work hard and loves hard, _Shannaro_! There’s no way she’s been wasting her time for the past four years…

“He keeps everything bottled up but he’s really just a troubled soul. He, Naruto, and I used to be close, and I know that same Sasuke-kun is in there somewhere, but he’s been through a lot, okay?” Sakura paused, gaze bouncing from Tenten to Ino, who both looked somewhere on a spectrum of pitying to unconvinced, making the heartsick girl’s fists clench. “I’m even going to tell him how I feel tonight. I’ll ask him out. Things are gonna change, you’ll see!” By the end, Sakura’s voice wavered to the point it became difficult to discern whether she was trying to convince her friends or herself. But she just couldn’t take their pity anymore. There was nothing worse, in her opinion, than being looked down upon and underestimated.

“Then I guess you better get dressed then,” her blonde friend said, voice uncharacteristically soft. Sakura couldn’t stand it, but was simultaneously grateful for the small act of mercy. She ran into the bathroom to begin to change.

“Take your hair out of that ponytail, you’re gonna want to pull out all the stops tonight, Forehead!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Pig.” She took her hair out of the elastic, letting the pink strands loose to settle heavily down her back. Honestly, she didn’t like it this long, it was an annoying extra weight during games and practice, and ate up her time and money when it came to care and products, but she’d heard that Sasuke liked girls with long hair, and, well, he liked grabbing it when they’d been together before… No. Suddenly smacking her cheeks, she shook her head.

_It’s long because I like it. It reminds me I’m a girl. This is for me_.

**Pfft yeah, keep telling yourself that. Pathetic!**

_Shut up, Inner-Sakura._

**Good comeback. You know I’m right…**

Tenten’s warm voice suddenly sliced through her inner dialogue, and Sakura could’ve kissed her brown haired friend in gratitude.

“Hey, hurry up in there, Sakura! We’ve got two bottles of wine to get through before we leave for the party!”

“I’m coming, don’t start drinking yet!”

“Too late!”

Sakura hastily dressed and huffed a laugh, despite herself. Even with the shitshow that she made out of last night’s game and her perhaps, maybe, ( **definitely** ) dubious romantic fixation, her friends still loved and supported her. Throwing the door open to the sight of two of her closest friends drinking crappy white wine straight out of the bottle, Sakura smiled, and knew that whatever happened tonight, tomorrow, for the rest of the year, she wouldn’t be alone.

* * *

Cheers erupted from the corner booth of Shushu-ya Bar, one of the few bars in Konoha where one could go without having to worry about being bothered by a college crowd. Unfortunately for Kakashi, that didn’t make it any less rowdy or suffocating, as Gai relentlessly dragged him through the doors and over to their raucous group of friends. 

“As I live and breathe, if it isn’t Mr. Konoha himself, what a delightful surprise,” Genma’s grin defied the laws of physics, as it seemed to stretch completely across his face, all the while still holding a toothpick between his teeth.

“I was kidnapped and brought here against my will,” Kakashi sighed, his arm still trapped within Gai’s iron, youthful grip.

“That’s the spirit, buddy!” Asuma smiled at his old friend, while Kurenai laughed next to him.

“If anyone could get taichou out of his house, it’s Gai.”

“Maa, don’t call me ‘taichou,’ Tenzou” Kakashi squinted at his brown-haired friend.

“And don’t call me ‘Tenzou,’ Kakashi,” Yamato retorted, lips pursed in a little pout.

“Ah, the Power of Youth has already entered this bar and enriched our spirits, I see!” Kakashi pried Gai’s hand off before plopping unceremoniously at the end of the booth next to Yamato, muttering something like, “I need to be enriched by spirits after spending time with you lot” (but who’s to say).

Genma ordered another round of drinks, winking at their buxom brunette waitress who promptly ignored him in favor of giving Kakashi a curious once-over, then raised his nearly-empty beer to the table.

“A toast to Hatake. May your new job be tolerable and your sex life be active!” A chorus of “Here heres” and “To Hatake” rang out as the group took their drinks. When the waitress places their drinks on the table, lingering a little in front of Kakashi, he was quick to grab his beer and down as much as he could, sparing the woman a glance before she winked and sauntered back to the bar.

“Fuck you, Genma,”

“Ah ah ah, save it for your new friend,” he gestured to the waitress still gazing at Kakashi, who merely groaned.

“Not interested.” Genma scoffed, grabbing his chest as if he’d been mortally wounded (in this moment, Kakashi wished he was).

“You kill me, Hatake. You wear a mask and put in no effort and still get the girl. And you don’t even want her! You’re something else, man.”

He’s right. About the effort. Kakashi’s wearing his black surgical mask, as well as the first non-athletic clothes he could find shoved in the first box he could find in his too-big house he’d yet to fully move in to or make a home. Still, in ratty old jeans and a snug black sweater, there was something alluring about the man. He’d joke it was the scar, and maybe that was part of it, but there was definitely something about him that commanded attention and respect. _Thank Kami for the mask_ , he thought to himself. It was his small shield from the rest of the world, one of the few things he could control anymore these days. He sighed, turning to Genma.

“Well she’s all yours. I’m not looking for anything right now, I practically just got here.” Anko, never the type to let things lie, cackled from the opposite side of the booth.

“You know _love_ happens when you least expect it, Hatake,” she purred in a purposefully obnoxious tone. “You sure do have a way with women though. I mean, last night was the perfect example. Haruno’s never going to forget you.”

“Ooo, Haruno? A college girl? And a beautiful one, to boot. Kakashi, you dog!”

Even though he hadn’t had much to drink, Kakashi’s head was spinning.

“Who’s Haruno?” Anko scoffed.

“That pink haired bitch who hates your guts. And you don’t even remember her. That’s pretty low, even for you,” Anko looked positively delighted. Kakashi, meanwhile, stared up at the ceiling (begging it to swallow him whole). How could he forget Sakura Haruno? A strong basketball player but her explosive temper would do her no favors. He’d found it mildly amusing watching her blood boil as a reaction to him simply doing his job, seeing the little ways he could get a rise out of her. But he was shocked when she went off at him after the game, and he considered himself a pretty unshockable guy after the things he’d live through, seen, and done. He couldn’t help but feel a little put out. Anko was the one who needlessly escalated the situation. He was just trying to do his job.

“Now, Anko-chan, that’s not very nice. Of course I remember Ms. Haruno, and how you threw her out. No one likes a bully, you know,” Genma gasped.

“You ejected Haruno? Damn, Anko, I bet she was pissed,” Anko grinned at the toothpick-chewing man. “She sure was. That’s mostly why I did it. The look on her face was _priceless_ ,” she laughed obnoxious, impervious to the glares of several people around the table.

“That was pretty over the top, even for you, Anko,” Kurenai frowned into her glass. “While she shouldn’t have spoken to Kakashi that way, I can understand her frustration.” Anko rolled her eyes.

“For the love of Kami if you launch into another one of your ‘As a woman in basketball’ lecture I’m gonna _scream_ ,” Kurenei shot the purple haired menace a disapproving look but stopped talking all the same.

“That’s enough, Anko,” Asuma growled. Anko just smirked. “Ah yes, Manly Man Coach Asuma to the rescue of his damsel in distress wife. Kind of hypocritical, Kurenai, goes against your whole ‘Rah rah girl power’ thing but whatever. I don’t see why any of you would be mad at me, especially you, Kurenai. After I booted Haruno, the measly crowd actually gave a shit for once. Can’t usually say that about a girl’s game, eh?” She sat there, smug, as the booth’s occupants glanced at one another – no one could argue with her there. It was the most lively they’d seen a women’s crowd in years. Despite Kurenai’s disapproval for how Anko had handled Sakura’s situation, even she had to admit that it was nice to see; that was the most animated a crowd had ever been for the KU women in all her years of reffing, and even since she’d been a player on the very seem team and court as all of those girls.

“Typical Kakashi to make a dramatic entrance and already be causing trouble,” Genma chuckled, successfully diffusing the tension. Gai abruptly stood from the table (immediately causing groans and protests about this is why Gai should never be allowed to see in the booth) and struck his Nice Guy Post, tooth gleaming as he shouted, “MY ETERNAL RIVAL! YOUR YOUTH KNOWS NO BOUNDS!”

The bar went completely silent for a few seconds until everyone seemed to break out into a laugh all at once. Leave it to Gai to be so… Gai. Kakashi could only shake his head, chuckling to himself. He couldn’t even make himself be (that) annoyed. He’d had a rough go of it, the past few years, hell, most of his life, but somehow he’d made some friends along the way that just wouldn’t seem to let him go and get lost in himself and his own demons. _Those leeches_ , Kakashi thought affectionately. He raised he glass to his masked lips once more (“Seriously, Hatake, through the mask?!” But he, as usual, ignored Genma’s whining). Maybe it wasn’t so bad being back here after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to those who continue to read, comment on, like, and bookmark this story! There's probably just one more chapter of set-up before the fun between this two begins, so thanks for your patience and support. Stay healthy!


	6. Lesson learned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry it took me a little longer to put this one out, but hopefully its length makes up for it! Thanks again for all the comments, kudos, and bookmarks, you all are the best! <3

The party was unsurprisingly in full swing by the time Sakura, Ino, and Tenten arrived, but thanks to their pre-gaming, they were just about as inebriated as everyone else who was there. Tenten immediately bounded off to greet Neji with a kiss, while Ino and Sakura scanned the area to see where the rest of their teammates were.

Rather than hosting at the cramped and ramen container-filled on-campus apartment Naruto lived in, he’d invited everyone to his godfather, Jiraiya’s massive home in a more secluded area of Konoha. Sakura often forgot that the old perv was a great basketball player back in his day before he retired to write books, travel the world, and open up a few businesses along the way, but it made sense to her that the culmination of all those ventures could result in a place as nice as this. She couldn’t help but smile, grateful that despite all of the man’s flaws and slight sleaziness, he was an important person in Naruto’s life and had given him the sense of family and belonging that her friend had missed out on for a good part of his childhood.

It looked like most people were outside in the large backyard that lit with fairy lights and surrounded by various plants and trees that had clearly recently to wilt in the increasing chill of Konoha’s impending winter months. Naruto and Lee were wrestling in the middle of the yard as Shino, Sai, and Hinata amusedly looked on. Konahamaru and Moegi seemed to be egging Naruto on nearby in between carrying on their own animated conversation. Shikamaru leaned back against the fence at the far end of the yard, smoking a cigarette and listening to Choji, who was sitting on the ground next to him. Peering into the large windows overlooking the yard, Sakura could make out a few of her underclassmen, Yuki, Saki, and Kana, giggling and gossiping over drinks in the kitchen. No sign of Kiba or Hanabi, which probably meant they were somewhere making out, and no sign of Sasuke. Perhaps he didn’t come, or maybe he just was running late, or-

“Hello, earth to Forehead!” Sakura blinked, whipping her head back around to meet Ino’s narrowed gaze. The blonde had her hands on her hips, clearly annoyed.

“I was calling your name for like, two minutes, jeez!”

“A whole two minutes? I’m so sorry, Pig,” Sakura couldn’t help but deadpan, giving her friend a dry look. They cracked a smile at each other before heading a little deeper into the party, approaching Hinata with tipsy grins.

“Hey Hinata! How was helping your _boyfriend_ set up?” Ino wiggled her eyebrows as Hinata predictably went bright red, stammering as she gently put a hand over Ino’s mouth.

“Ino-chan, please, lower your voice! He’s not my boyfriend! And it was… fine.” Sakura gave her dark-haired friend a sympathetic pat on the back.

“Naruto’s still as oblivious as ever, I see.” Hinata wilted, giving a sad nod in agreement.

“Hey, don’t get discouraged. He’s a dummy so you just have to spell out how you feel. I know how annoying it is to be the one having to do the work, being the pursuer, but it’ll be worth it. How could our number one knuckleheaded basketball player _not_ love you, after all?!” Hinata’s blush slightly deepened as she smiled softly in response.

“Thank you, Sakura-chan.”

“Of course, that’s what friends are for!” Ino, who had stepped away for a trip to a nearby cooler filled with acholic beverages, returned at that moment with three spiked seltzers, handing one off to the other two women. Sakura quickly cracked hers open with an appreciative nod and took a quick gulp, while Hinata looked at her drink hesitantly.

“I don’t know if I should. I’m already kind of nervous as it is…” Ino just rolled her eyes, smiling.

“You’re _always_ nervous around Naruto. This will help take the edge off.”

“What Ino-Pig _means_ to say is that you obviously don’t have to drink if you don’t want to, but if you do want to, it could help loosen you up enough to make a move.” Sakura leaned in a little closer to Hinata, speaking in a softer tone that only she and their blonde friend could hear. “I want to ask Sasuke-kun out for real tonight, I’m tired of waiting around for something to happen. So I’m using all the liquid courage I can, you know? Because I’ve been pining for too damn long and so have you.”

Ino huffed something like “Too damn long is _right_ ” under her breath but Sakura chose to ignore her in favor of shooting an encouraging smile Hinata’s way. Her shy teammate returned the smile, cracking open her seltzer and taking a small sip. Ino cheered and smacked Hinata’s back.

“Atta girl!” Hinata coughed lightly before smiling once more at her two friends.

“If you can share how you feel, Sakura-chan, than maybe you’re right, maybe I can too.”

“That’s the spirit! Look at us, motivating each other. I feel pumped,” the pinkette slapped her cheeks with her free hand to psych herself up. “I’m gonna go find Sasuke and tell him how I feel right now, and you can do the same with Naruto!”

Hinata blanched. “Right now?!”

“Yep!” Sakura grinned at the slightly-panicking girl in front of her before giving her a gentle shove towards where Lee and Naruto were still grappling on the ground.

“Hey boys!”

The wrestling man-children paused just enough to excitedly chorus “Sakura-chan!” and “Sakura-san!” in greeting. Sakura smiled mischievously, before drawing their attention to Hinata with another little shove.

“Once you two are done, Hinata will go against the winner!” Hinata gasped immediately and looked stricken, but her desperate protests were drowned out by whoops from Lee and Naruto.

“It would be an honor to square off against the cousin of one of my biggest rivals!” The bowl cut-sporting boy gave Hinata a blinding, toothy smile, before Naruto nudged him with a pout.

“No way, Hinata-chan, the one you’ll be facing is me! I’m gonna take down Busy Brows, and then I’ll take you down too, BELIEVE IT!”

The two went back to wrestling, somehow with even more fervor than before, as Hinata just watched with wide eyes and mouth hanging open. Ino turned to Sakura, trying to cover up her mirth with a glare.

“Nice going, Forehead, you broke Hinata. That idiot is gonna send our starting small forward to the hospital! When it comes to love, that blonde bozo is dangerously clueless.”

“Oh please, Ino-chan, I’m just helping speed things up a little. He said he was gonna ‘take her down’ after all, that’s kinda hot, right?” Ino leveled Sakura with a blank stare.

“Just go find Sasuke and maybe drink a cup of water while you’re at it, you’re already so embarassing.” The pinkette, who clearly stopped listening after the words “Go find Sasuke,” laughed and gave her best friend a Nice Guy Pose to rival Lee’s before charging towards the house with a boisterous “SHANNARO!” Ino just let out a breathy laugh and then sidled up to Sai.

“Who are you betting on?”

Sai stared ahead at his wrestling teammates, his face completely blank as he watched two men over 21 roll around like five year-olds, but his eyes twinkled with slight mirth.

“I predict that this one goes to Dickless, mostly due to Bushy Brow’s inebriation.”

“Oh Kami, Sai, who the hell let him have something to drink?! And who the hell let him wear that tight green sweat suit to a party?!”

“He took a swig of someone’s sake that he somehow mistook for water. It helped him initially in the fight but he’s running out of steam. As for his attire, well, I believe it’s the only thing he owns outside of a basketball uniform.” Ino scoffed.

“Did you just make a joke?”

“I suppose I did. Alcohol really has turned me into quite the wild child tonight.” Ino threw back her head and laughed at Sai’s slightly pink cheeks and completely monotone delivery. He honestly wasn’t quite sure what he said that was so funny but couldn’t help the small part of him that felt pleased by knowing he’d caused the blonde’s joyous laughter, anyway.

* * *

When Sakura approached Yuki, Saki, and Kana in the kitchen, the juniors and sophomore all greeted her with bright smiles and enthusiastic, if slightly slurred, “Hi Captain!”s. She took a moment to enjoy their simple joy as only a proud captain and friend-slash-self-proclaimed-older-sister-figure could, before getting down to business.

“Hi girls! Have you happened to see Sasuke-kun anywhere?”

Her teammates’ smiles dimmed slightly at the mention of their captain’s longtime love interest. They exchanged glances, communicating silently, their eyes begging one of the other two to be the bearer of not so great news.

Finally, Saki Watanabe, a tall and hard-working junior with short black hair and who often subbed in for Sakura on the rare (or more recently, not as rare) occasions she was taken out of the game, stepped forward with a tentastive smile.

“He went upstairs a few minutes before you got here, Sakura-taichou-”

Sakura gave Saki a quick hug.

“Amazing, Saki-chan, thanks so much! You all are the best kohai a gal could have!” And with a grin, Sakura sprinted towards the stairs, unfortunately before Saki could continue her sentence to warn her that wherever Sasuke was upstairs, he definitely wasn’t alone.

“Don’t worry, Saki-chan, you tried to tell her,” Yuki, her fellow junior, and the typical sub for Hinata, patted her friend’s arm comfortingly.

“And besides, if he hurts her, we’ll kick his ass! WOO!” Kana, the lone sophomore of the three and a girl who’s dirty blonde hair and general loudness often earned her comparisons to Naruto, shot her fists up as if punching two imaginary Sasuke faces.

“While I like the sentiment, there’s no need for violence,” Saki replied with a slight frown. Yuki nodded in agreement, making Kana purse her lips and pout like a child as she idly twirled one of her long dark blonde locks.

“Well, it’s not like it’d ever come to that anyway! He’d have to be an idiot not to love someone as incredible as our Captain!”

The three girls were all in agreement there, and happily raised a glass to the sentiment, to Sakura-taichou’s happiness.

* * *

But as it turned out, Sakura wasn’t too happy. After bursting into every bedroom upstairs (even Jiraiya’s, much to her chagrin) only to come up empty – save for one where Hanabi and Kiba were making out so heavily, Sakura gave the boy a quick fist to the head, much to Hanabi’s embarrassment, and made them go outside to cool off a little, like the good Captain and self-proclaimed-older-sister she was – she finally made her way to the small bathroom at the end of the hall. She felt awkward knocking, especially when someone was probably behind the shut door just trying to do their business, but she hadn’t seen anyone else come up so this seemed to be the last possible place Sasuke could be, if he was really here.

One deep breath and short mental pep talk later, Sakura knocked on the door.

Nothing.

Slightly annoyed by the silence, she knocked again, a little louder. This time she heard some shuffling and maybe some shushing, but still, no response. Losing all patience, Sakura started banging on the door as loudly as she could until she heard a voice that sounded a _lot_ like Sasuke snap,

“The bathroom is fucking occupied!”

Sakura froze. She would’ve turned around and left him to do his business in there if she hadn’t heard a giggle after Sasuke’s very un-Sasuke-like outburst. Without really thinking, Sakura threw open the door and was met with a sight that both broke her heart and made her blood boil.

Sasuke was bent forward near the sink, hair mussed, shirt open, and fly down, and underneath him was Karin Uzamaki, leading forward on her elbows onto the sink so that her butt stuck out and lined up with Sasuke’s—oh my _God_ they were about to have sex.

Sasuke was hooking up with annoying, red-headed, Sasuke-obsessed cheerleader Karin Uzamaki in Jirayia’s tiniest bathroom, and Sakura interrupted right before their… grand finale.

“Do you fucking mind?!” Karin snapped at Sakura, a slightly possessive and gloating smirk stretched across her face even in spite of her clear annoyance.

“Sasuke-kun…” Sakura whispered, causing the young man to turn her way and look into her eyes with an impassive and cold gaze, expression as placid and unreadable as ever.

“Sakura, you’re interrupting. But if you’re that desperate, maybe try again another night.”

Sakura’s jaw dropped. The _nerve_ of this little punk to even-

“You never even thought about dating me, did you?” Sakura found the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them. Sasuke and Karin straightened and tucked themselves and their parts back in before breaking out into condescending laughter.

“Date you? As in a relationship? No, Sakura, you know I don’t do those. You’ve always known, and yet you came to me anyway. You probably wanted to change or save me, but I don’t need or want that. You’re just being really annoying.”

“Yeah, and Sasuke-kun likes hooking up with _me_ because I don’t hold him to anything. No strings or expectations. I take what I can get,” Karin taunted haughtily.

Ignoring Karin, the pinkette bristled. No one but Tsunade and maybe Ino could call her annoying and get away with it. She might’ve been annoying in the past, but that Sakura was gone. She wouldn’t stand for this shit.

“You took my virginity and continually hooked up with me all this time knowing that I liked you, that I’ve only ever liked you. I didn’t want to change you, Sasuke, I just wanted to be there for you. I didn’t want you to be alone anymore. I’d say that I guess that isn’t a problem, seeing how cozy you two seem, but honestly, Karin, I just feel bad for you.”

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, clearly amused and enjoying Sakura’s outburst, only further infuriating her as it made it even clearer that he’s never taken her seriously, while Karin shrieked an indignant “How dare you-” until Sakura cut her off, clearly on a roll.

“I mean seriously, Karin, look where you fucking are! Jiraiya has a massive home with like over four bedrooms just on this floor and Sasuke took you to the tiniest little bathroom he could find for a quick pump and dump! That’s embarrassing, and I can say that because I’ve been in your shoes. You’re a smart girl, you’re better than this. I know I am. I mean, what the hell was I thinking?!” Sakura, shocking herself as the words continued to tumble out seemingly without any conscious thought on her part, leaned back onto the doorframe and cover her face with her hand.

“I was deluding myself. All this time. What a waste. Damn, I need a drink,” as Sakura began to turn to go, surprisingly it was Karin who called out to her.

“After all that time loving him you’re gonna give up and walk away because of one other girl, just like that?” Sakura turned back to look at the two, eyes narrowing as she took in Sasuke’s face, so smooth in its lack of expression that it could have been carved from marble, and felt a sudden clarity and lightness.

“Yeah, just like that, Karin. Because now that I don’t think about it, I don’t think what I felt was ever really love in the first place. Plus, we’re _both_ kidding ourselves if we really think we’re the only ones he’s playing. I don’t have time for this. Do what you want, have fun and good luck.”

Karin and Sasuke stood silently in the bathroom after Sakura slammed the door shut, and they listened to her stomp downstairs for a minute before the redhead forced her agape mouth closed and peered at her lover through her slightly off-kilter glasses.

“That was fucking crazy. She’s… she’s crazy! Are you okay, Sasuke-kun?”

“Hn,” he grunted without looking at her. Karin frowned.

“Aren’t you going to ask me if I’m okay?”

“Are you okay to continue where we left off?” he asked flatly while turning to the mirror to fix up his usually perfectly coiffed hair. Karin gasped.

“You just want to go back to doing it, just like that?!”

“Hn”

“Let’s move to a bedroom then,” Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“Why bother, we were fine here before,” he bit back. Karin glared right back at him before walking out the door, muttering to herself something along the lines of ‘College boys’ and ‘Why do I even bother,’ while Sasuke just stayed put, continuing to fuss over his own reflection, thinking to himself with smug certainty that she’d be back. They both would be.

* * *

Sakura stomped into the kitchen with a thunderous expression and went straight for the knives. Her three underclassmen suddenly screamed, calling for Naruto, who was currently pinned under a furiously apologizing and bright red Hinata in what turned out to be an extremely entertaining wrestling match, before trying to placate their captain from a safe distance.

“I said I’d beat him up but I didn’t want you to _kill_ him!” Kana exclaimed with obvious distress.

“He doesn’t deserve you, Captain, but he also doesn’t deserve to die. Probably,” added Yuki.

“Don’t go to jail, Sakura-taichou, I’m not ready to take over for you yet,” Saki, ever the pragmatist, reasoned.

It was during all this that Naruto, Hinata, and Ino rushed into the kitchen.

“Who’s killing who?!” Naruto screeched, head whipping around until his eyes rested on Sakura standing at the middle of Jiraiya’s kitchen holding one of the biggest knives his godfather owned.

“Sakura-chan, don’t do this! You can’t accomplish your dreams from jail, believe it!”

“Please don’t do anything rash, Sakura-chan,” Hinata chimed in softly at Naruto’s side.

“Forehead, you know I love drama as much as the next guy but damn, you don’t have to go all yandere on him just for rejecting you—”

A loud whistle suddenly shocked them all into silence. Sakura took her fingers out of her mouth and let out a relieved breath, a vein popping a little in her forehead as her brain, suddenly no longer warmed by the comforting buzz of alcohol, ached from the explosion of noise and activity and.. accusations.

“Kami, you idiots, I’m not killing anyone! I just wanted to cut my hair.” Silence, as they all stared at her with open mouths in utter disbelief.

“You-you’re the idiot! Who uses a knife to cut there hair?!” Ino shrieked. Sakura shrugged.

“It was kind of an impulsive decision and this was the first thing I saw, so…” Naruto pouted.

“But I like your hair, Sakura-chan!” She glared at that.

“Well I don’t. I’ve never liked it long, to be honest. It’s heavy during games and just tends to get in the way and require more upkeep-”

“You don’t need to convince us, Sakura-chan,” Hinata offered with a kind smile before glancing up at Naruto, who eventually got the point. He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

“That’s right, Sakura-chan, what I mean is that you’re pretty no matter what, even bald!”

“Shut up, Naruto!”

“Eheheh I’ll just go get the scissors,” and he scurried off, reappearing a minute later with a nice sharp pair of shears. Sakura accepted them with a warm smile.

“Need any help with that?” Ino asked. What she was really asking was ‘Are you going to be okay?’ and Sakura understood her best friend quite clearly.

“Thanks Pig, but I’ve got this. I’m okay.” And she was. Without further fanfare, Sakura went outside to cut her hair to just over her shoulders. Once she finished, Naruto let out a whoop, shaking a passed out Lee, while yelling how “THIS IS THE BEST PARTY EVER!”

Sakura smiled. She didn’t have to look into a mirror to know she looked and felt more like herself than she had in a long time.

* * *

“So Hatake, what’s up with the stupid mask, anyway?”

Kakashi’s half-lidded and slightly inebriated gaze drifted towards Anko.

“Huh?”

The cantankerous red narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. Kakashi hoped that if he continued to play dumb and say as few words as possibly, that she’d just get bored and move on to the next person to torment. No such luck right now.

“Oh, don’t be a shithead, Hatake. I’m saying we all go to school together, you’re this local celebrity, and then boom, suddenly you disappear for over a decade and now you’re back? What the hell? You’re hiding something!”

Kakashi inwardly groaned, doing his best to maintain his aloof façade when all he wanted to do was run from this conversation.

“Me, hide something? Please, I’m a complete open book.” Anko snorted.

“Says the asshole wearing a MASK!” Suddenly, she had a particularly evil glint to her eyes matched with a cruel twist of her lips. “Say, don’t tell me this mysterious disappearing act has something to do with the death of-”

“If you know what’s good for you, you won’t finish that sentence.” Both Kakashi and Anko started at that, looking up with wide eyes to see Tsunade standing over their seating forms, her arms crossed and expression wrathful. Shizune hovered over the blonde’s shoulder, eyes quickly sliding between the three, clearly trying to assess the potential volatility for the situation and if she’d have to spend yet another night breaking up a Classic Tsunade Altercation.

“Well, well, well if it isn’t Granny Tsunade to come to the rescue! What a surprise. Are you two fucking or something?”

Kakashi and Tsunade’s faces broke into mirrored expressions of shock and disgust.

“Goddammit, think before you open your mouth for once, Mitarashi, I mean, Hatake, seriously? Kami, hell no!”

Shizune leaned forward, shooting the silver-haired man an apologetic look.

“No offense, of course, Kakashi!” He took a surly swig of his beer through his mask.

“None taken.” Genma, who, _of course_ , had been listening the whole time, gave his buddy a pat on the back.

“Don’t worry, Kakashi, at least our hot waitress still would bone you!”

“And if I were a woman, I’m sure I would too!” A bowl-haired man yelled from across the table.

“Thanks, Gai,” Kakashi spat, and Gai shot him a grin and thumbs up, clearly not picking up on his Eternal Rival’s sarcasm.

“You all sure are a lively bunch even after all these years,” Tsunade huffed with a quick chuckle. She couldn’t help but feel a burst of affection for these 30-somethings she watched grow up, who after all this time still had each others’ backs after all the shit that had gone down in their lives and in this town. _Good_ , she thought to herself, _these are the kinds of friends Hatake needs_. She glanced at Anko, who was currently cackling and pointing at Kakashi while yelling about how he and Gai should get a room. _Well, most of them are, anyway_. Tsunade turned back to Kakashi, who, despite his obvious discomfort and embarrassment, couldn’t help but feel extremely relieved that the conversation had shifted away from some of the more… painful memories of his past.

“Hatake, welcome back to Konoha. It’s been a while.” Kakashi curved his eyes at her in what passed for a smile.

“Thanks Tsunade, it’s good to be back. Although I think your team already hates me,” with a chuckle Tsunade just patted the man on the shoulder.

“Not my team, just my captain. You don’t want to make an enemy out of her, though.”

Kakashi raised his eyebrows.

“And why is that?”

“Because I taught her everything I know!” And as scary as that thought was, Kakashi couldn’t help but feel a little moved by the usually hard-edged woman soften a little with a glow of pride. Kakashi would be lying if he said his curiosity in this little pink-haired spitfire wasn’t peaked.

“You were never one to take on apprentices, besides Shizune, of course.”

“Well, Sakura-chan’s special, of course!” Genma butted in. 

“She’s not special, she’s just a little brat!” Anko glowered, clearly annoyed with the direction the conversation had taken.

“Pot, meet kettle!” Asuma quipped, causing a chorus of laughter to overtake the group. Even Tsunade joined in, eager for a laugh at Anko’s expense.

“Well if you’re such a good mentor, why didn’t you teach the brat how to control her damn temper?! Or wait, I guess you can’t teach what you can’t do for yourself…” Ignoring Anko’s jabs, Tsunade did humor her enough to answer the first question.

“Sakura’s a spitfire, that’s for sure, but I haven’t seen her get that out of control in years. Hatake, something about you clearly rubs her the wrong way.” Genma snickered, elbowing his friend while wiggling his eyebrows.

“Niiiccee!” Kakashi elbowed him back, but put a little more _oomph_ into it.

“Ow, what the hell, man?!”

“You don’t need to make everything sexual, asshole. That’s a student you’re talking about!”

“What can I say, it’s a gift. And ugh, okay grandpa, she’s a senior and a grown woman, she can make her own decisions. Decisions like, going out with me, or going to bed with-”

Tsunade interrupted Genma’s musings with a hard whack to the back of the head.

“Leave my players alone, Shirunai. You look at them weird, I’ll rip your eyes out. Or _worse_.” Tsunade’s narrowed eyes flickered down to Genma’s crotch, causing the man to nervously swallow.

“Yes ma’am, my apologies.” The blonde grinned. “That’s more like it. And you!”

“Ow! What the hell was that for?!”

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head after getting his own smack from the powerful coach before him.

“Get that stick out of your ass, Hatake. While Shirunai here is an absolute pig, he was right that Sakura is no kid. Honestly, she could probably teach you a thing or two,” she looked down at him, eyes bright and mouth tilted in a smirk. Kakashi just sunk lower into his chair, not even stopping his lips from pouting beneath his mask and arms from crossing over his chest as he thought of the pink-haired college athlete with an anger problem. What did _he_ have to learn from _her_?

And even after Tsunade and Shizune had retreated to another part of the bar to drink the night away, even as his friends continued to laugh and reminisce around him, even as the bar waitress returned just a little _too_ frequently to ask him specifically if he needed anything else (and if he was _sure_ ), he couldn’t seem to stop asking himself that question.

What did he have to learn from her?


	7. Of Plaques, Walls, and Muffins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now this is where it all really begins

Hugging her books to her chest against her soft orange sweater, Sakura smiled to herself as she basked in her favorite weekly ritual outside of her basketball commitments. Every Wednesday after a grueling 6am practice, the KU Captain would shower and then head straight to her favorite coffee shop to study, relax, and most of all, enjoy an incredible muffin and strong cup of coffee.

Even with a scholarship, life was no picnic as a student-athlete, as Sakura and the rest of Konoha’s athletes balances daily practices, workouts, and strategy meetings during the week with the same amounts of schoolwork as everyone else. All of that, plus attempts to have a social alongside the actual official games the athletes were playing added up to be an exhausting and oftentimes overwhelming lifestyle, but it was one that they’d never give up due to the wholehearted love for their sports and commitment to making Konoha, their team, their fans and family, and themselves proud.

While many student-athletes at KU were known to take less demanding or intense course loads in order to maintain their sport schedules and overall sanity, Sakura Haruno was never one to balk or give up her passions in the face of a little adversity. In addition to playing basketball, the pink-haired senior had spent the past four years at Konoha University pursuing an intensive Bachelor of Sciences course load to complete a double major in physiology and biochemistry.

When she was five years-old, she and Ino made a pact to grow up and always play basketball together. Since then, her dream had always been to play professional basketball. But as she grew older, she grew more rational and decided that if her basketball career didn’t pan out, she’d like to attend medical school and eventually become a doctor specializing in critical care medicine. It was Coach Tsunade who – although people sometimes tended to forget – considered herself a doctor first and (reluctant) basketball coach and former player second, and who was the one to steer Sakura in the right direction, eventually taking the girl under her wing once Sakura had dispelled the blonde’s initial doubts and proven her potential.

Sakura loved her classes and the sciences in general, she really did, but it was easy to get burnt out and exhausted, even without the basketball factored in. That’s why this now four yearlong ritual was such a godsend. She could go to her favorite coffee shop, eat her favorite muffin, and just be another student. It was her own little oasis.

Most of the time.

She couldn’t let herself forget that her beloved coffee shop was owned by the Pervy Sage himself, Jiraiya, who seemed to take great joy in annoying her whenever they crossed paths. Honestly, though, she could never truly be truly mad with the man, at least not for long. While at first she thought he was disgusting, misogynistic, and creepy, as she got to know him and see what a great godfather he was to Naruto, her opinions changed. Not to mention he was one of the legendary Sannin along Tsunade and Orochimaru – who all grew up together to become three of the greatest basketball players to come out of not only Konoha but all of Japan – plus he’d ended up becoming such a personality and businessman after leaving basketball that he’d earned the nickname “The Shaq of the East.”

Whether you liked him or not, it was hard not to respect a man like that. Sure, he wrote appallingly filthy adult novels, but at least he somewhat canceled that out by opening great new businesses, like Sakura’s precious Icha-Itchin’ for Coffee. Once you get past the name, of course, it’s actually pretty amazing.

When she entered the brightly lit and book-filled coffeeshop, she paused a moment at the door to bask in the odors of fresh coffee and pastries, and the ambient din of the small and studious usual early morning patrons. It would have been another perfect Wednesday morning if someone hadn’t been sitting in her usual spot. Shocked to see the cozy corner spot she frequented so often over the years that for her last birthday, Naruto gifted her a small plaque on the table reading “The Sakura Haruno Memorial Table” – which was sweet despite its slight morbidity – and she’d sat there for a non-game day and non-holiday Wednesday since. Until today, apparently. Already irate at the fool who could be so uncouth as to disregard a completely valid plaque, Sakura stomped to her spot, only freezing briefly in shock upon recognizing the interloper sitting there.

That thick-skulled referee from Friday was hogging _her_ table, still wearing his stupid mask and sporting that stupid gravity-defying hairstyle – which was probably hardened with gel and took an hour to prepare – and a soft-looking blue sweater that hugged his body enough to reveal some surprisingly firm and large-looking muscles…

_AH!!_ Sakura mentally kicked herself. _What’d I say? Something about his_ stupid _-looking sweater and_ stupid, nothing special _muscles… heh heh._

**Quit lying to yourself, please, be my guest** , Sakura’s Inner Self snickered back, smug in the knowledge that they both knew she’d totally slipped up. But it was nothing. Anyone would be surprised, seeing a person in regular clothes after catching them in a baggy uniform. It was only natural!

**Right…**

Before Sakura could get into a full-out argument with her own brain, she decided to bite the bullet and focus on the task at hat: getting rid of this interloper who was currently so engrossed in his reading that he seemed completely oblivious to the world around him. With a sigh, she approached, pasting on a sweet smile to try her best to combat Friday’s outburst by killing him with kindness.

“Excuse me but I believe you’re in my seat”

Kakashi’s reading was oh-so rudely interrupted by… an orange blob? Dragging his bleary eyes up the blob, he focused enough to realize that this was, in fact, a young woman with pink hair, who’s hand on her hip and furiously tapping foot betrayed the nice smile she was attempting wear on her face.

“This is a public establishment. And also a free country. Miss…”

Oh. My. God. Sakura could have decked him right then and there. Not only was he purposely being difficult, but he had that gall to drag his bored gaze across her in a way that showed no recognition at all, even after everything that had happened less than a week ago, even after she _demanded_ that he remember her name. Ohhh man, it was lucky that this table had such sentimental value to her because otherwise she’d punch it in half with all of her fury.

“You- you _asshole_! You seriously don’t remember me?!”

His eyes widened a fraction.

“Did we…?”

After a few seconds of him pointing between her and himself, Sakura finally understood his implication and gasped, smacking his pointing finger away.

“Kami, _no_ , you pervert, not even in your wildest dreams.”

He rubbed his abused finger absentmindedly, eyes maintaining that half-lidded, bored look.

“Maa, maybe not yet, but who knows what I could dream tonight. Sometimes the things my subconscious conjures up get pretty freaky, if you know what I—”

“You know what, I don’t care, just stop talking. I’ve sat here almost every week for the past four years, my name is on this table, so I’d appreciate it if you moved to another seat so I can salvage what’s left of my Muffin Wednesday.”

Thought she was beginning to get hysterical in her frustration, the tension in Sakura’s shoulders eased a little when she saw the man nodding along. He seemed to be taking in what she was saying, he seemed to, for once, be thinking reasonably, he—

“Muffin Monday.”

Sakura scowled.

“I beg your pardon?”

“It should be Muffin Monday, not Wednesday. Rolls off the tongue better. Nice and alliterative.”

Her eyebrow twitched.

“No, it’s Muffin Wednesday. Muffin Monday would be a waste of a day. It’s idiotic. Monday is the beginning of the work week, what have any of us done to earn a muffin then? How would a muffin be helping? Wednesday is perfect because it’s that time of the week when things are starting you drag, you may be in a slump, work and life and commitments are weighing on you but you can’t go out and drink the worries the way, it’s the middle of the week! So Wednesday is scientifically the perfect day for a muffin because the warm, sweet, fluffy goodness is the perfect, crumbly reminder that there _are_ good things on the horizon and that life _is_ worth living. Just carry on a few more days and the weekend is here, but in the meantime, treat yourself to something nice. Muffin Wednesday is the best and only day for muffins. Obviously.”

The whole coffee shop had gone silent. Sakura looked around and was mortified to see all eyes on her. Oh Kami, no, how did this guy push her buttons to the point where she’d—

He was laughing.

The ref was laughing in response to her impassioned muffin speech, and she couldn’t even find it in her to maintain her ire when the sound of his genuine merriment was just so startling. He laughed with a sort of raspiness that made it sound like he hadn’t really laughed for a while, or that it wasn’t something he was doing often. The fact that it was her who dragged it out of him made Sakura feel a sudden burst of pride and warmth, before she came back to herself and quickly slammed those feelings away, dismissing them as mere relief that the awkward silence had been broken.

“Okay, I’m convinced.”

Sakura sighed.

“Great, so will you leave now?”

“Hmmm…” His eyes moved from her, to the ceiling, to the plaque.

“No. You’re more than welcome to join me, though. There are two chairs, after all.”

Before she could lunge at him, she stumbled a bit as an arm was thrown over her shoulder.

“Sakura-chan, good morning! Nice to see that you and Kakashi-sensei have become friends! I love your sweater by the way, orange is always a good choice.” He flashed a grin that would’ve made Gai and Lee proud. Sakura shivered.

“Sensei? Friends? ORANGE?! Naruto you say one more idiotic thing and I’ll knock you into next week.”

With a pout, the blonde whines.

“But Sakura-chan, what’d I do wrong?”

“Tch, hopefully. Firstly, I’ve never seen this man before Friday and you’re my best friend so I don’t understand when and how he could be your sensei. Secondly, we are most definitely _not_ friends. This geezer—”

“I’m actually 26.”

Naruto coughed obnoxiously.

“Fine, 36.” Sakura ignored him, instead choosing to continue ranting to Naruto.

“—this ancient, old man is so senile he doesn’t even remember me, even after what happened at the game. And thirdly, it is _not_ orange, it’s apricot!”

“Is anyone else getting hungry?” Both Naruto and Sakura ignored Kakashi’s question, instead gazing at him in various expressions of surprise and resentment.

“Kakashi-sensei, Sakura specifically told you to remember her name!”

The man shrugged.

“I remembered her name but didn’t recognize her at all.”

“How many people do you see with PINK HAIR, asshole?!”

“Cut me some slack, haircuts are confusing, Sakura-chan!”

“ _Chan_?!” Sakura scrunched her face, aghast at his overly familiar address.

“Plus when you replace that orange uniform with a pretty orange sweater, it’s like looking at a whole new person,” he whined, scratching the back of his neck.

**Pretty…** Sakura’s Inner sighed dreamily.

_He meant the sweater, not us, idiot._

**Well you wish he meant us…**

****

_GAHHH!!!_

“It’s _apricot_ —ah you know what, nevermind. Naruto can you just make him move, please?”

“Well, you know I’d do anything for you, Sakura-chan, but I can’t do this. I’m sorry!”

“Well why not?!”

Naruto laughed nervously.

“Well, you see, it’d be easier if I showed you.” He walked to the back wall, which had always, to Sakura’s knowledge, been covered by a curtain. She thought it was just a decoration or part of the ambiance, but now Naruto was pulling it back and revealing a…

“Is that _stone_?!”

Her jaw dropped as she regarded six faces carved into the wall out of stone. And one of those faces was Kakashi, mask and all.

“Heh heh, yeah, ya see, this is Pervy Sage’s Wall of Fame.”

“You’re kidding,” Sakura muttered. Suddenly, she felt a warm presence inches from her back.

“No, it’s completely legit, trust me,” Kakashi spoke into her ear, causing her to shiver and take a few steps away, closer to the ridiculous stone-carved wall.

“I’ll never trust _you_! This is absurd. How could I come here four years and never see this ‘til now? Was my plaque just an act of pity?”

“Ah, Sakura-chan, no of course not! I wanted to do something special, just for you, with that plaque. But this… well, I asked Pervy Sage not to reveal it until my face is on it. It’s only a matter of time, dattebayo!”

“You’ve still got a little ways to go, kid,” Kakashi remarked absentmindedly as he admired his stone likeness that shared the same wall as two of his former coaches.

“Don’t listen to him, Naruto, I’m sure that you’ll be on the level of,” Sakura squinted, leaning forward to read the names labeling each of the celebrated visages, “Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Minato Namikaze, Tsunade Senju, and Kakashi Hatake…” She trailed off. “Yeah, maybe it’ll be a little while longer.”

“Hey!” Naruto screeched.

“I just said it’d take some time, idiot! But it’ll happen. You’re the best of us, Naruto.” Sakura smile at her friend, who was now blushing and halfheartedly disagreeing with her assertion. Kakashi lifted up his worn copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_ , but peered at the two friends over the pages, a soft smile hidden by his surgical mask.

Of course he remembered Sakura Haruno, of course he recognized her the moment he saw her, of course he just had to have a little fun at her expense and get under her skin a little bit again. Her muffin diatribe was a surprise, but his own laughter was even more shocking. She was an interesting one, alright, and despite himself, Kakashi found that he was already looking forward to next Wednesday.

“AH!”

Ripping him out of his thoughts was Sakura’s shout. Kakashi raised his eyebrows at her disgusted expression and finger pointing shakily at the cover of his book. Outwardly, the dirty book-wielding man maintained his bored mask, but inside he was giggling with glee.

“EW!”

Okay, maybe he was giggling a little bit in real life, too. She was just too easy to rile up.

“Pervert! I knew you were a pervert! From the first moment I saw you, you just gave me that vibe, I just _knew_.”

“Ah. But weren’t you the one who was discussing ‘blowing my whistle?’”

Sakura went bright red and Naruto immediately began squawking in indignation.

“Sakura-chan, how could you say something so lewd about a master of the whistle blowing arts?!”

Kakashi gave Naruto a subtle thumbs up. It seemed his student wasn’t _completely_ hopeless, after all.

“N-n-no, Naruto, I swear, I didn’t say that. I mean, someone did, I was there, but that wasn’t ME, I would never—”

“And as Captain, you encouraged such objectification of a poor young man like me? Why, Sakura-chan, it seems like the real pervert all along has been _you_!”

Sakura narrowed her eyes, her fists twitching, desperate to break something, preferably Kakashi’s infuriatingly hidden face. After a few deep breaths, she turned to Naruto with a tight-lipped smile.

“Can I please have my coffee and muffin now, Naruto- _kun_?”

Naruto rushed back behind the counter he manned in Jiraiya’s absence, picking out the best chocolate chip muffin of the batch.

“Heh, coming right up, Sakura-chan!” But as he went to go through the usual motions of sticking the treat in the shop microwave to heat it up, he was suddenly stopped by his pink-haired friend, who now glared at a jovial, waving Kakash (who also happened to be lovingly stroking his stone-carved hair with his non-waving hand), her voice dropping dangerously as she growled out, “Make it ‘to go.’”

Naruto blanched, but nodded anyway.

“You’ve got it.”

As soon as he handed her the order, Sakura gathered up her things and rushed out the shop, bid farewell by Kakashi, although she did her darndest to appear like she heard nothing at all.

But how could she remain unaffected when her precious Muffin Wednesdays would never be the same again.

“See you next week, Sakura-chan!”

And despite his generally flippant attitude, Kakashi really made it sound like a promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all, again, for your readership! I really appreciate the hits, kudos, comments, bookmarks, any and all of it! Keeps me going :') Hope you're all well, thanks again!


	8. Taking the hit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter is ridiculously long, but hopefully worth the read. There's definitely some action coming up and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. 
> 
> Anyway, as always, thank you all for your kudos, comments, bookmarks, and readership. It means a lot and definitely helps to keep me writing, so thanks again! Stay well, all!

“I already told you, I’ll be busy pet-sitting for a lonely old dog while his owners are away.” Kakashi punctuated his statement with a shot, sinking a three right in his defender’s face.

“Oh fuck you, man, everybody knows that’s just code for you saying you’ll be spending another night home alone, whacking it to your smut books.” Kakashi glared.

“It’s _erotic literature_. I wouldn’t expect a layman like you to understand,” with a sniff, he trotted underneath the hoop to pick up the errant basketball. With infuriating ease, he started spinning it on his finger, watching his friend hunch over, panting with his hands on his knees.

“And you call _me_ a pervert. Also, what the hell, man, are you seriously not tired at all?”

“Maa, Genma, don’t tell me that all those nights at the bar are catching up to you! Such bad habits in your old age aren’t healthy, you know.” Genma growled, pushing himself up to now stand with his hands on his hips.

“We’re practically the same age, asshole. And I’m in great shape. You’re just a prodigious basketball freak. I mean, seriously, for someone out of commission, you shouldn’t be this sharp. It’s aggravating.” Kakashi mockingly crinkled his eyes into a smile.

“I take my mask off for a brief one-on-one and you’re already flirting with me so shamelessly! It’s starting to get embarrassing, you know, I just might blush.” His friend – who by now had accepted yet another defeat at the hands of the silver-haired basketball genius – merely rolled his eyes.

“Deflect all you want, but you can’t hide forever, man.”

_I’ve been doing pretty well so far_ … the intrusive thought popped into Kakashi’s mind, but before he could properly bat it away, Genma was snatching the ball from his middle finger. Kakashi left the digit up for a second, making it clear what he thought of the brunette’s sudden act of thievery, but Genma paid him no mind.

“If I make a shot from half court you have to come with me to the game tonight.”

Kakashi sighed.

“One try, and not a toe over the line.” Genma smirked.

“One shot is all I need.”

An innuendo was on the tip of Kakashi’s tongue in an instant, but he kept it to himself. After all, the joint opportunity to see Genma’s cocky smirk wiped off his face and get a peaceful night in the comforts of home in the process was sweet enough as it was.

* * *

Sakura grinned at her reflection in the mirror. Her white Konoha University home uniform was so much better than the green monstrosities that Danzo forced them to wear because old men’s uniform hand-me-downs were apparently what a team of “women who had yet to prove they deserved better” had a budget for. Just like Tsunade, her teammates, and basically every women’s team at the university, Sakura hated their misogynistic old athletic director with a passion hot enough to rival the Will of Fire, but there was nothing quite as sweet as well-earned revenge, and so she just focused on the meantime on the tears the wrinkly prick would probably be shedding once the KU women win the championships this year.

Sakura sure felt like a winner, at least. After her embarrassing display at the home opener two weeks okay, she redeemed herself and then some with last weekend’s away game against Stone. Even those hideous green uniforms (which, as usual, their opponents relentlessly mocked) couldn’t get in the way of what was, all in all, a fantastic night. Sakura had a triple double for the night, with 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 steals, and best of all, she didn’t even come close to fouling out or making a scene, finishing the game with only two fouls to her name. While Stone, true to their name, was known for their fortress of a defense, it wasn’t enough to stop Konoha from winning handily, with a final score of 65 to 39.

The entire team was in high spirits, and Sakura, perhaps, more than the rest. Her new short hair literally took a massive weight off her shoulders all throughout their last game and made the pink haired Captain feel like a badass (even though she _did_ kind of miss the hilarious feeling of accidentally-on-purpose whipping opponents in the face with her long and heavy ponytail). Tenten had her battle buns ready, Hinata, her long straight hair well-kempt and out of the way, and Ino had even taken a page out of Sakura’s book, lopping inches off of her long blonde locks right in the locker room after seeing how much Short-Haired Sakura crushed it in their last game.

There was no KU men’s game before theirs, and yet it still sounded like they’d manage to draw quite the crowd. The chatter and hum of the spectators squeezed in underneath the locker room door and enveloped the whole team to create a borderline electric atmosphere. Sakura felt pleased. These girls, her girls, deserved fans and better uniforms and more respect. She’d make sure to lead them well tonight and show the crowd a home game so exciting it completely erased all memories of their season opener, and, better yet, erase all thoughts of the men’s team.

**That’s right! Soon enough, _their_ fans will be _mine_. I mean, our team’s! Heh heh.**

Sakura rolled her eyes. _Okay Inner, reign it in._

**I’m just pumping you up, bitch. We deserve it.**

Sakura smirked. Sometimes having a noisy and opinionated Inner Self wasn’t too bad after all.

Turning away from her reflection, Sakura clapped her hands to get her team’s attention.

“Okay, ladies. Coach is gonna be walking through this door any minute now. Get your stuff together and take your spots by the board.”

With a chorus of “Hai!” and “Yes Captain!” (and also Ino’s slightly less respectful “Oh stuff it, Forehead”), the team shoved the last of their things into their lockers and gathered on the benches near the wall covered with a big white board that was designed to look like the most rudimentary version of a basketball court, with lines denoting half court, the foul line, the three point line, the paint, and the court’s boundaries, plus little circles to represent the hoop and center court. Sakura always marveled at the board’s pristine condition before Tsunade and Shizune would come in and fill it with plays, barely illegible writing, and the occasional obscene word or doodle (depending on Tsunade’s level of drunkenness). Not a minute later, Tsunade burst through the door, Shizune hot on her heels. Both women looked much more intense than they had before the prior two games, and with an opponent and atmosphere like tonight’s, it was really no wonder.

“Shizune.” The busty blonde held her hand out expectantly towards her assistant coach. Looks like she was getting right to it tonight. Shizune fumbled with her clipboard for a second before reaching into her pocket for a brand new black dry erase marker, handing it to her boss, and then furiously reading over her clipboard to scour over her game-day notes. Tsunade uncapped the marker and dug it into the board with force.

“We face our age-old rivals tonight. The crowd is big and Suna is stronger than ever. Don’t let them come out on top again this year. We’re running a box and one. Hinata, you’re our best defender – don’t let Temari out of your sight. As for the rest of you, don’t forget to watch out for that Matsuri girl. We’ve been practicing all season for this, so don’t fuck it up.”

A beat of silence as the girls took in their coach’s words as well as the white board, which was now somehow so covered in black ink that it was hard to discern any one thing (even Hanabi and Hinata, who had the best eyesight out of the group, could only make out “Suna,” “Temari,” “Fuck ‘em up!!!”).

“Is that it?” Ino asked a little haughtily, causing Tsunade to snarl in her direction and whip her marker at the blonde’s head – which she just managed to dodge.

“One more thing. The crowd is bigger and rowdier than usual. I don’t know if it’s because of the rivalry or if they’re mostly Suna people or if it’s… something else… but whatever it is, don’t let it get to you. Now quit dawdling and start warming up, brats.”

Sakura was the first to scramble up, bellowing “Yes Coach!” before leading her team to the court. But as she ran there, she couldn’t help but wonder why Tsunade seemed to be aiming that last bit directly at her, and why her gaze burnt hotter into Sakura’s retinas on the word “something else.”

* * *

“Since you wouldn’t tell me what you wanted, I got you one of each!”

A hot dog, a hamburger, and a soft pretzel were all shoved unceremoniously into a very reluctant lap.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Aw come on, don’t be like that. If your worried about people seeing your face, I’ll just use my body as a human shield while you shove the shit into your face crazy fast the way you usually do!”

“I still can’t believe you made that shot, especially after everything else you put up was such a brick” the man groaned, putting his head in his hands as he leaned forward, nearly letting the free food slip to the dirty bleacher below at the sudden motion.

“Woah, Kakashi, I get that you’re a sore loser but no need to be wasteful. This is some of the best concession stand food around, you know!” Genma caught the falling food with impressive reflexes, not even letting the toothpick he was idly chewing on slip out of his mouth.

“All you practice are trick shots. It’s useless.” Kakashi pouted behind his ever-present facemask, now staring straight ahead with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Well it got you here, didn’t it?” Genma’s smugness was almost as annoying to Kakashi as the shit-eating grin the brunette shot his way. But while he let his unhappiness at losing a bet to Genma bleed through in his expression (or the uncovered parts, at least) and body language, inwardly he reflected on the realization that he honestly didn’t mind being there. He couldn’t deny that he was curious about Sakura Haruno after their few but memorable run-ins, and this curiosity was only piqued after hearing about her impressive triple-double last week again Stone. He mused to himself that it wouldn’t be too bad to see her work from a spectator’s perspective, rather than as a referee, for once. He didn’t usually make a habit of bothering to watch people play unless he had to, but Sakura seemed to have a knack for bringing the spark back to a sport he hadn’t felt a real fire for in quite a long time.

“This crowd is kind of surprising,” Kakashi remarked as he glanced around at the nearly full bleachers, which noticeably had more people than the women’s season open. Unusual.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same. My guess is, people like drama, you know? Like Bobby Knight was a great college basketball coach but we all remember him most because he threw some chairs and got ejected. That’s exciting shit. Anko’s reffing again, and I think people are hoping that she and Haruno have a repeat performance.” Genma gazed contemplatively at the Konoha squad as they warmed up. His eyes paused on a head of pink hair standing under the hoop, rebounding for her teammates and pumping them up as they did lay-up and jump shot drills.

“That’s stupid,” Kakashi grumble as his own gaze followed Genma’s. It honestly annoyed him to think that these people would rather come here for some type of circus than out of genuine support for a hard-working and good team or out of love for the game or their University, but at the same time, he could see the logic in Genma’s words. This always nettled at him: Where does the game and love for it end, and headline-making showmanship begin? Where is the line drawn? Is there such a thing as truly pure basketball?

“Stupid, maybe, but it puts butts in seats. You know as well as I do that women’s teams don’t usually get the credit they deserve—”

“Especially with someone like Danzo still in charge.”

“Exactly, Hatake. Gimmicks and shit suck, but at least they’ve got eyes on them. They’ll come for the show and stay for their skill and heart.”

“They can hope,” Kakashi muttered. He wouldn’t count on it, especially with a sexist old prick like Danzo still as Athletic Director. Especially after everything he, personally, had been through. Better just to nip wishful thinking and idealistic hopes in the bud. Things don’t always end up how you wish they would… He knew that better than anyone.

* * *

“Alright, brats, huddle up!” Tsunade called the team over to stand in front of their bench. The warm up period was over and pre-game buzzer sounded. “You know what to do. Get out there and kick some sandy ass!”

“Hell yeah, ‘Kick Sandy Ass’ on three—” Sakura blanched at her best friend’s embarrassing interjection.

“Wait, Pig, I don’t think—” Ino quickly talked over her Captain, their teammates too keyed up to really listen to the latter’s protests, anyway.

“One, two, three—”

“KICK SANDY ASS!” Sakura’s teammates yelled – well, Hinata whispered it, but still, even she said it – around her, eliciting a laugh from the larger-than-usual crowd and making the Suna team and fans glare daggers their way.

“Ooo, I guess they didn’t like that,” Ino cooed, clearly reveling in the sandy squad’s annoyance. Cuppong her hands around her mouth, the blonde called out directly to the opposing team. “Sorry Temari! Shika sends his love by the way!” The Suna Captain immediately went red in embarrassment and rage, taking a hard step towards Ino with her fists clenched, before Matsuri showed up to hold her back and steer her away. Sakura smacked Ino’s arm, annoyed at her friend’s immature antics.

“Damn it, Pig, don’t rile her up. This game is gonna be hard enough as it is with Anko reffing!”

“Sorry Forehead, but I can’t help myself. Plus, maybe if we get her mad enough, An-hoe will throw Temari out of the game instead of you, and that’d make all of our jobs a lot easier. What I’m saying is I’m a genius and you should be thanking me—” Sakura smacked her friend on the arm again.

“Quiet, Pig, you’ve got a jump ball to win. So win it,” Sakura gave Ino a light push towards center court where Yamato was waiting with the basketball, and Temari was alright getting ready to – judging by her wrathful facial expression alone – looked ready to smack the shit out of that ball and right into Ino’s face the second it would leave the quiet ref’s hand. As Ino sidled up to stand across from Temari and incited the Suna center with a taunting smile and wave, Yamato looked honestly terrified. He really, _really_ didn’t want to get in the middle of this. He was grateful that Kurenai was reffing alongside him, but with Anko as the third ref for a huge game between the biggest rivals in the league, even her steadying and commanding presence probably wouldn’t be enough to stop things from getting volatile. With a gulp, Yamato blew his whistle, signaling that women on both teams should get ready. Five bodies on each team tensed, their eyes on the ball with enough ferocity to notice the slight shake in Yamato’s hand as he threw the ball into the air. With a breath of relief, he stepped back and watched as Konoha won the jump, to the sound of much applause. No trouble yet. But he had a bad feeling that there would be some to come.

Genma cackled in glee as he idly smacked one of Kakashi’s crossed arms.

“I still can’t believe Yamato’s hands were _shaking_ at the jump ball. It’s no wonder he doesn’t have a girlfriend, he seems completely terrified by powerful women.”

Inwardly, Kakashi thought that he’d probably be scared to be standing between those two blonde centers, too, although he wouldn’t show it like his naïve little kohai did. He couldn’t help but think that the Yamanaka girl was trouble, although, Genma seemed absolutely delighted by the blonde and her fiery personality, swagger, and mountain-high confidence. However, the thoughts quickly floated out of the forefront of his brain as he returned to his previously unsettled state. Genma, picking up on his friend’s agitation, raised his eyebrows and turned to give Kakashi his full attention.

“What’s up your ass, Hatake? I know the game is close, but we’re winning. Even if we weren’t though, you usually aren’t one to react to much, so what gives?”

Kakashi sighed. Genma could seem air-headed or like a party-boy sometimes but he really was observant and a good friend when it counted. It was the end of the third quarter and Konoha was up 83 to 79. It was admittedly a good and really exciting, back-and-forth game, but that was what made everything so much weirder to Kakashi. This was a great game against two talented teams that were longtime rivals… so why did the crowd seem so disinterested? By the second quarter, there was a noticeable dip in the crowd’s noise level and energy. It struck him as odd then, but as Konoha rallied from a 9 point deficit to pull ahead in the third quarter and a large portion of the spectators _still_ remained disinterested, he was unsettled to see that Genma’s initial prediction was right. They wanted, no, _expected_ , a blow-up from Haruno.

“The crowd has been weird for a little bit now, don’t you think?” Looking around, it seemed like many of them even were about to leave. Kakashi had tried to sound disinterested, but he couldn’t help but scoff, irritated that these people could call themselves fans and yet be about to ditch a game this tight. What was the point in their coming out at all?

“It’s like I told you, man. They want a show from Haruno, and so far, they haven’t gotten one.”

“She’s scored 20 points and pulled 11 rebounds and the fourth quarter hasn’t even started yet, what more could they want?” Despite his slouched and seemingly-relaxed posture, Kakashi uncharacteristically let a bit of his annoyance bleed into his voice. Basketball always had a way of working him up sometimes like nothing else (besides _Icha Icha_ ) could. Genma, meanwhile, couldn’t look more pleased as he smirked at his friend.

“Ooo looks like someone’s been keeping a very close eye on our precious pink-haired captain! Damn, and it wasn’t that long ago you were claiming college girls were too young for you, and yet here you are now, mooning over a 22 year-old---”

Before Genma could say anything raunchier or more annoying, Kakashi shoved a hot dog into his mouth, effectively cutting the brunette’s speech off, but also nearly making him choke in the process.

“Kami, Kakashi what the hell! I still had my toothpick in my mouth, you nearly fucking killed me, man!” He spat out the hot dog and wrapped the remains up in the foil it came in as an older woman sitting in the row ahead turned back to glare at him in disgust before facing forward once more. Kakashi just shrugged.

“You just looked hungry, that’s all.” As Genma grumbled to himself, Kakashi’s eyes wandered back to Sakura. She really was having a good game, but he could tell the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm and slow departure was getting to her, in the slump of her shoulders and glances she shot to the stands. He didn’t know why, but he honestly felt kind of bad. He was grumpy and jaded but he didn’t want someone like her to be, too. He didn’t want to see another young basketball player lose their spark while he stood idly by.

The buzzer for the fourth quarter sounded, although the people around the two men didn’t really seem to be all that invested, as many started putting their jackets on. Even with Naruto and Lee trying to rally enthusiasm and get people involved, the crowd looked less interested than ever. As all of this was going down, Sakura got fouled going up for a lay-up, sending her to the foul line to take two shots. She went through her typical routine: bounce the ball once, spin it, bounce it again. But as she bent low and tensed her muscles to go through her regular shooting motions, her concentration was completely interrupted.

“It’s a miss!”

And miss it did. The shot bounced sharply off the rim with a loud clang. Letting out a hiss of breath, Sakura whipped her head towards the stands to see who just heckled her and was shocked to find that instead of a Suna fan flipping her off, Kakashi Hatake waving at her with a happy eye-crease, in all of his masked, gray-haired glory. She would just ignore him, people had heckled her plenty of times before, it wasn’t a big deal--

“Yo, Sakura-chan! That was a bad shot!”

“SHUT UP!” She couldn’t stop herself. Who did he think he was, telling her it was a bad shot? She had a great shot, usually, when annoying masked men weren’t trying to distract her and make her life difficult.

“You have to get lower before you shoot, that’s why it hit the rim. Flat shots are bad shots, Sakura-chan!” A vein pulsed in Sakura’s forehead as she clenched her fists, ready to turn and give that ass a piece of her mind, when she heard a nervous cough in front of her.

“Your second shot, Ms. Haruno,” Yamato held the ball with shaky hands at he looked at Sakura wearily from under the hoop. He had no idea what his old taichou was trying to pull but he knew nothing good could come of it, and he just prayed that whatever it was, he wouldn’t be dragged into it or left to clean up the mess (as he often was). With a sigh, Sakura nodded at Yamato, taking a deep breath in and out to calm herself as the mild-mannered referee bounced her the ball. She did her normal routine once more but maybe, just maybe, although she’d definitely never admit to it, bent just a little bit lower this time before springing up for the shot. It soared into the hoop with a satisfying swish.

“See?! What’d I tell you! Just needed some more leg power. I’ll give you that advice for free, but you _will_ have to call me ‘Kakashi-sensei’ from now on—”

Without even thinking, Sakura’s body launched towards the stands. She’d never lost control like this before, or at least, it had been _years_ , but something about Kakashi Hatake just seemed to bring out the animal in her, and all she wanted to do right now was put him in his place, tear him apart, shut him the hell up.

Before she knew it, she was grabbing him by the collar. Sakura was basically blacked out with rage at this point. She wasn’t in control anymore. All she could do was let her claws out and attack.

She started shaking him by the collar, although his surprisingly muscular frame held him mostly steady, much to her disappointment (and slight, very slight awe), leaving him to just sway back and forwards a little with the movement of her fist. Genma sat next to him, clearly loving every second of this, but she paid him no mind. Right now she could only see Kakashi.

“Hey, ASSHOLE, _don’t_ give me unsolicited advice, _don’t_ heckle me in the middle of a game, _don’t_ take credit for my own made shots, and _don’t_ tell me to call you sensei. You aren’t my sensei. You don’t know shit!”

“Maa, maa, Sakura-chan, is that any way to talk to your beloved sensei—”

She punched him.

In the face.

Hard.

The crowd exploded with glee. People who had left or were leaving were suddenly rushing back in, cheering for violence like animals (or hockey fans). Tsunade was groaning in disappointment and rage, taking generous swigs from her flask of sake as Shizune tried to wrench it out of her hands. A whistle screeched through the pandemonium, but Sakura couldn’t even hear it, her hands shaking as her eyes widened, taking in what she’d just done.

Kakashi was groaning, holding his hand over the eye of his that was already scarred.

“Now that’s no way to treat a sensei, Sakura-chan,” he grunted out, still a little taken aback that she actually hit him, and impressed by the surprisingly heayy punch she packed. _Seems like Tsuande has been a mentor to her in more ways than one…_

“Oh Kami, oh crap, I’m so sorry Hatake-san, I don’t know what came over me, my Inner Self is kind of a bitch and she just took over and oh shit now I’m gonna get arrested and kicked off the team and not be able to play professional basketball and maybe I’ll even lose my scholarship and be kicked out of school and have to join a gang and live on the streets—”

“I don’t really think that—”

Before Kakashi could say anything else, Sakura was yanked backwards by the back of her jersey by a positively demonic Anko. She’d never seen the purple-haired referee look so happy. It was horrifying.

“Ohhh you’ve done it now, Haruno. You’re gonna be in big, _big_ trouble. You might even be put to death for this!”

“She really won’t be, I’m clearly fine and I kinda egged her on, so—”

“No! Please, I didn’t mean to, it was my Inner, see—”

“I don’t care if it was the ghost of Madara Uchiha inhabiting your body and making you do it, you hit an innocent spectator, and so now you are OUT OF HERE!”

“But—”

“EJECTED! Now!”

With a solemn bob of her head Sakura took a step back from Kakashi, looking straight down at her feet as she said, “I really a sorry for this, Hatake-san. Please don’t press charges…” With an embarrassed laugh, Kakashi scratched the back of his neck and creased his eyes.

“It’s no big deal, Sakura-chan, these things happen all the time!”

“They do not,” Sai, who’d been sitting a few rows ahead, turned around to add his unwanted input.

“Thanks, Sai,” Sakura growled, but, of course, he didn’t pick up on her sarcasm.

“No problem, Ugly. You should probably exit the building now before Scary locks you up.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going, alright? Jeez.” Sakura, escorted by a sadistically delighted Anko, walked out of the Konoha University gym to raucous applause and a standing ovation. She settled into the locker room and waited, knees tucked into her chest and head resting on her knees, feeling like the biggest idiot around. How could she have done that? Sure, Hatake was annoying, but he didn’t deserve violence. What was it about him that got so under her skin? Maybe her action was merely the byproduct of one too many men telling her what to do and thinking they knew best for her, she didn’t know, but she really shouldn’t have done that. Hatake wasn’t even that bad. Not really. In fact, she’d enjoyed their conversation at the coffee shop two weeks ago and was honestly a little sad that he didn’t show up while she was there this past Wednesday. But it didn’t warrant taking it out on him by force…

**I can’t believe you had the audacity to blame that on me. We did that together!**

_Not right now, Inner. I’m not in the mood._

In the midst of Sakura’s inner (Inner?) turmoil, unbeknownst to her, her team was energized anew. While they felt her loss keenly, Saki was doing her best to hold down the fort in her stead, and Konoha continued to remain ahead of Suna. The crowd was going crazy for Konoha, cheering them on more vigorously than they even often cheered for the boys. The KU women eked out with the win, 95 to 90, and as the still-buzzing fans filtered out, they were already talking about how they’d definitely be here for the next women’s game, and that they’d be sure to get their friends and relatives to come too. Tsunade’s sharp eyes and keen ears, even while drunk on her feet, took this in, and she couldn’t help but feel a jolt of pride and nostalgia. She used to be known for this kind of thing, herself, although she was even _more_ violent and volatile and not nearly as apologetic as her little captain. She’d pretend to be angry and give the girl a little slap on the wrist, but honestly, she saw this night as an ultimate success. She should probably check on Hatake and make sure his eye wasn’t any more busted than it was before, though…

But by the time Tsunade looked for him, Kakashi was already long gone. As soon as Sakura left the gym for the locker room, he slipped out before even Genma could notice. Stopping at a convenience store, he grabbed some ice for his face and held it there as he headed back home. Kakashi pulled his mask down, letting the cool November night wind whip his bare skin, and smiled genuinely enough that his dimple showed through.

He couldn’t wait to tell Obito about this.


	9. Sensei

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is perhaps a bit transitional but there's some fun stuff (and perhaps even... ANGST/DRAMA?!) to come, so stay tuned, and for now, enjoy :)

“Two weeks suspension. That means no games, no practices, not letting even a single strand of your pin little head be seen inside of the Konoha University gym or workout facility for the next 14 days. Do I make myself clear?”

Here tone brokered no room for argument, as usual, but Sakura sighed anyway and answered.

“Yes, Coach.”

There was no point in her kicking up a fuss. After all, both of them knew it could and probably should have been way worse for her, punishment-wise.

“Brat, you’re lucky that you had me to fight for you, because if it was up to Danzo, your entire season would be over. Hatake is an employee of the University and, as far as heckling goes, said way tamer shit than you’ve faced before. I get that he’s annoying, trust me, but that’s still no excuse for violence.” 

_Pot meet kettle…_ Sakura couldn’t help but think to herself and inwardly snicker. Tsunade never seemed to have a problem with using violence, herself, but she had enough sense not to voice that unless she wanted to be on the receiving end of those fists. Instead, she bowed her head to her coach and mentor to seek forgiveness.

“I know, Coach Tsunade, and I’m really sorry. I honestly have no idea what came over me, I’ve never done anything like that before. I promise to keep working out on my own these next two weeks and keep my head down and do whatever I can to get over this and make it up to you.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear!”

“Nice…” Sakura repeatedly absently. She couldn’t help but feel a little afraid looking at her coach. Why was Tsunade… smiling?

**That’s not normal, right? When was the last time we saw her look happy? We’re fucked.**

Sakura had no reply for her Inner, although she _would_ appreciate a little less of the pessimism, thank you very much. But she agreed that this apparent glee, especially in such a shameful situation for her team captain, was unusual and worrisome.

“Indeed! You’ll be spending your suspension working on how to control your emotions with a real expert, so that when you come back to us, no little violent accidents will happen again.”

Sakura wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Was this going to be like enforced therapy? She wasn’t sure if she liked it, but maybe this was something she needed, and hey, it couldn’t hurt to try. She would have plenty of free time to fill over the next two weeks, anyway.

“Oh. Huh. Well, alright, I guess.”

With a delighted (scary) cackle, Tsunade banged her fist on the desk.

“Oh, good, I’m so _glad_ to see you’re such enthusiastic about your penance. I can’t wait to see how enthusiastic you’ll be when your trainer walks through the door.”

Sakura nervously laughed along with her coach, unsure of what else to do. She was just starting to break out into a sweat when there was a light knock on the door. Tsunade’s grin turned positively feral.

“Looks like he’s here. Late, as usual, but no matter. COME IN!”

The door opened and in walked Kakashi Hatake, wearing black joggers and a navy blue Konoha University sweatshirt, donning his ever-present surgical mask, and sporting a large black eye on the right side of his face. The sight of his injury made Sakura wince – it really did look bad, she guessed she didn’t know her own strength – and take a step back into Tsunade’s large oak desk as she was slapped with a wave of embarrassment and mortification.

“You?!”

“Actually, it’s Kakashi-sensei now to you. Officially. But please don’t hit me for that again, Sakura-chan. My left eye is bad enough as it is.” He said all of this with an eye smile (although it seemed like more of a wince with his bruised eye) as he jauntily pointed to his scarred left eye.

“How’d you get that scar, anyway?” Sakura blurted out before she think better of asking such an invasive question of someone she’d bothered enough as it is. Kakashi took it in stride, though, scratching the back of his neck with a light chuckle.

“Well, you see, there was this angry girl who didn’t want to call me sensei no matter how many useful tips I gave her, and one day she snapped and came at me with a knife—”

“You know what, forget I asked.” Sakura muttered under her breath with a pout. How could she have honestly expected a rea answer out of this clown, a guy crazy enough to seemingly forgive her for assaulting him in public. Wait, speaking of which.

“Why would you willingly want to be anywhere near me after I, um…” 

“Decked me like an MMA fighter?” Kakashi asked, tone light and unbothered as ever.

“Ah, yes, that,” Sakura awkwardly answered after a beat.

“Hm…” Kakashi rubbed his masked chin in thought for a minute or two as he looked up at the ceiling, building up an anticipation that had Sakura leaning in eagerly for his response. “Good question! Why, indeed!”

Sakura glared.

“That’s your answer?”

“Ah.”

“Great,” Sakura bit off bitterly. Tsunade cut through Sakura’s simmering anger and annoyance with a bark of a laugh.

“Oh, yes, you two are _definitely_ going to have a fun time working together.” Sakura leveled her coach with an unamused stare.

“Thanks, coach, yeah, _fun_. Totally.”

“Now that’s the spirit, Sakura-chan!” Kakashi shot her a thumbs up and eye crease that could rival one of Gai and Lee’s Nice Guy poses.

“Don’t you understand sarcasm when you hear it, Hatake-san?” Sakura clenched her fists.

“Kakashi-sensei,” he stage-whispered to her. _Ah_ , Sakura thought to herself. _I’m going to end up killing this man, aren’t I?_

Attempting to harness the killing intent and shape it into a saccharine sweet, mostly chilling smile, Sakura bared her teeth at the silver-haired menace before her.

“Excuse me. _Kakashi-sensei_.” Kakashi could only barely suppress the shiver that her murderous delivery caused within him, and instead tried to cover it up with a fake smile and laugh.

“Now that’s more like it! Way to go, Sakura-chan!”

“Since you both seem to already be getting along so well, how about getting the hell out of my office and starting to train. Haruno, your suspension starts now.”

With a hasty and not very convincing bow and “Yes Coach” to the devious busty woman before her, Sakura turned and stomped out of the room, leaving Kakashi to slouch and stroll casually after her, whistling an obnoxiously upset tune through his covered lips the whole way.

* * *

“Listen, Ha—” Kakashi narrowed his eyes at his new pupil, causing her to roll her eyes. “Kakashi-sensei. I really am sorry for punching you. And I’m sorry for my repeated hostility. Something about you is just so, so…” her green eyes darted around the familiar park basketball court around her, searching for the right word to describe this indescribable man.

“Appealing? Alluring? Handsome? Inspiring? Heart-stopping—”

“Infuriating. Annoying, also. One of the two, I guess. And those are the nicest adjectives on my list.”

“Ah.”

“Ah, indeed. Well, I just if there’s anyone to teach me how to prevent myself from strangling you, it kinda makes sense it’d be you.”

“Maa, this wasn’t my idea, actually. I don’t have any self-preservation instincts, you see, so I really don’t mind a good strangling.”

“Christ,” Sakura muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Okay then. What qualifications do you have to teach?”

Kakashi eye smiled at her.

“None!” 

“None? What the hell, are you messing with me right now?”

“I would never,” his hand pressed against his heart in mock offense, but his words anything but sincere.

_So he does understand sarcasm after all_.

“Wait. Doesn’t Naruto call you sensei? You must have at least _some_ teaching experience then, right?”

“Maa, well, we crossed paths sometimes throughout the years and maybe I’d teach him a thing or two. But I never actually asked him to call me sensei.”

“I’m the only one you honored with such a request, huh?”

“Exactly, Sakura-chan. You’re shaping up to be my best student yet!”

“I’d be your second student after Naruto, so that’s a pretty low bar, don’t you think?”

Kakashi sighed as if _he_ was the put-upon one here.

“You should learn how to take a compliment, Sakura-chan. You should know that your sensei here doesn’t give them out very freely.” Sakura snorted at that.

“As if I’d care about impressing you!”

“You don’t?”

**You don’t?**   
  


_Inner, shut the hell up._

**Hmmph**.

“Uh… nope.” Kakashi just nodded.

“I see. Well. As far as your apology goes, of course I accept. It wasn’t the first time I’ve been hit and it won’t be the last, I’m sure!”

“That’s… worrisome,” Sakura raised her eyebrows at him in concern, but Kakashi just waved her off.

“No need to worry about a handsome young man like me, Sakura-chan.”

“Ugh. You’re really full of yourself, you know?”

“I don’t know, the ladies _do_ dig scars. Plus your generous shiner has only upped my street cred. Women left and right have been asking me what happened,”

“And you tell them that a college girl pounded your face in for messing with her?”

“No, that would make me sound uncouth, don’t you think?”

“Imagine that,” Sakura intoned blandly, wondering to herself why she was playing along at all, when they’d actually get started, and why they seemed to have such natural rapport (wait, what?).

“Exactly, you understand. I tell them that I was only trying to help a poor little girl play a game when a raging thug suddenly entered the scene and started trying to beat me senseless. I protected the little girl, of course, but at the cost of my own beauty and youth.”

Despite herself, Sakura huffed a laugh.

“I can tell you’re friends with Coach Gai. You honestly sound a lot like him. Sometimes you kinda look like him too,” Kakashi suddenly whipped his head towards her, looking as offended as he could with just two bad eyes.

“Take it back.”

“Nah, I stand by what I said.” Sakura snickered. Looks like she finally got under his skin like he’s always getting under hers! Victory!

“Hm. I see how it is. Since I’m so much like Gai, then I guess I can only train you like he trains his pupils too.”

Suddenly Sakura stopped laughing. He can’t mean—

“You’re joking.”

“Of course not, Sakura-chan. 20 laps around the park, 100 push-ups, and 100 sit-ups. If you don’t do it fast enough, you’ve got to do it again.”

“WHAT?!”

“Starting now.”

“But what does this have to do with training my mind?”

“Everything.”

“Okay, Mr. Miyagi,” Sakura muttered sarcastically, still not making any move to start this little workout from hell.

“Who?”

“Seriously? Mr. Miyagi. _The Karate Kid_. One of the most popular sports movies of all time. ‘Wax on, wax off.’ Nothing?! Really?”

“Sorry, Sakura-chan, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I do know that if you don’t beat Lee’s record for this course that you won’t be touching a basketball all day.”

“But that’s impossible! Lee is—”

“You’ve already wasted,” he casually rolled up his sleeve, revealing his ( _surprisingly toned and maybe even a little mouth-watering? No, wait, shut up, Bad Sakura!_ ) forearm and a digital watch on his wrist. “Three and a half minutes. Any longer and I’d say you can definitely kiss this ball goodbye,” Kakashi mused while idly twirling Sakura’s basketball on his middle finger.

Momentarily stunned by the shocking ease with which he maneuvered the basketball, Sakura stopped and stared, slack-jawed, before shaking her head to regather her senses and running off to begin her laps.

_That’s someone who’s comfortable with a basketball_.

As she jogged, Sakura couldn’t help but let her eyes continue to dart back to Kakashi, who was now idly dribbling the basketball with one hand while the other one was busy holding up _Icha Icha Paradise_. While exasperated by his antics, Sakura was also overcome by how he could move the ball as if it was an extension of his arm. How he looked at home on a court. How he clearly did have more experience than he was letting on.

_Just who the hell really is Kakashi Hatake? And how has he never heard of_ The Karate Kid _?!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry for the bit of a wait in updating! The last two weeks have been a bit hectic (I picked up a third job and two of them involve writing, so I was a tad burnt out) but I've been spending that time at least thinking about the story + arc and, well, let's just say that there'll be plenty down the line to hopefully add some twists and turns to this silly story, and I'll try to make updates more frequent/regular. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks as always for your readership, comments, kudos, and bookmarks. It means a lot and is super encouraging! Hope all is well with ya, and that you ladies and ghouls have a very happy Halloween!


	10. Meditations and realizations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay! I had a bad case of "I know what I want to happen but I don't exactly know how to get there" so I got a little stuck. But once I got into the groove, this chapter turned out to be a fun ride so I hope you enjoy. Thanks for hanging in there with me and for your comments, kudos, and bookmarks, it really does mean a lot. 
> 
> Wishing you all a very safe, healthy, and happy Thanksgiving :)

“Why do you wear a mask all the time, Kakashi… sensei?” Sakura hesitation before the title was brief, a swift improvement from where she was before. A week working closely with a weirdo will do that to you, she supposed. Weirdos infecting normies, spreading their weird across the lands. Honestly, with Kakashi at least, it wasn’t too far off from the truth. After all, it wasn’t until she’d met him that she was getting routinely kicked out of basketball games and punching spectators in the face. Damn that man. Sakura hoped to at least learn something about him during their forced training, perhaps get to know something embarrassing or personal so she could get under his skin like he routinely got under hers.

**He can get under me, alright!**

_Inner, absolutely not. Bad Inner. Bad, I say._

“Sensitive nose.” Sakura scoffed.

“And that warrants wearing a mask all the time, everyday?”

“Ah, you know, Konoha in the spring, allergies and all that. You don’t want to see me have an allergic reaction. Extremely embarrassing, you’d lose all respect for me.”

“I’m sure it’d be fine, since my respect for you has been constant at zero since I met you. Also, this is November. Spring is still awhile away, old man.”

Kakashi sighed.

“Now, Sakura, that’s no way to talk to your beloved sensei.”

“Whatever. Just tell me one personal thing about you, you stupid enigma!”

“But wouldn’t it be fair if you told me about yourself, first? At the very least to show me how it’s done. I’m very dense, you know.”

“Boy, do I,” Sakura muttered to herself. She huffed a sigh. “Okay, fine. I’m Sakura Haruno, a 22 year-old senior at KU. I was born and raised in Konoha. My parents own a local bookstore. They don’t know much about the sports world but they’ve always been pretty supportive. My dream is to play professional basketball and then after that to be able to take care of people as a doctor. My likes are basketball, word puzzles, sweets, especially dango, studying medical texts, and supporting my friends. My dislikes are anything spicy, selfish jerks, getting thrown out of basketball games, and… you.” She smiled sweetly. “Your turn.”

“Why thank you for the information, Sakura-chan, I feel like I’ve really gotten to know you now. As for me, well… My name is Kakashi Hatake. My dreams… I’ve never really thought about it. I like reading _Icha Icha_. I dislike being asked personal questions. I have lots of hobbies.”

Sakura felt a vein pulse in her forehead.

“What the hell, I didn’t learn anything new about you, even though I told you all that stuff about me?! You’re the worst!”

“Don’t be like that. Here, I’ll throw in a bonus fact…”

Sakura leaned in, momentarily forgetting her ire in her excitement to finally learn something substantial about the elusive referee-slash-crappy coach before her. Kakashi looked to the sky and rubbed his masked chin as if deep in thought.

“The thing that nobody knows about me is… I’m really 23 years-old.”

“LIAR!” Sakura couldn’t stop herself from grabbing Kakashi by the front of his Konoha University sweatshirt, shaking him around a bit as if trying to jostle his brain into finally working like a normal human’s. Sakura couldn’t help but wonder if there was something seriously wrong with him. Why else would he be so adamant about sharing nothing about himself? Or maybe, just as she always suspected, he really was just an eccentric and perverted freak.

“Okay, fine, you caught me. I’m 26. Now please unhand me, you’ll mess up my hair.”

Sakura scoffed.

“Your hair is already messed up. Probably has never had a brush in it, now that I think about it. Also, it’s gray, so you’ve gotta be at least, what, 50?”

Kakashi looked as offended as a guy with only the top half of his face being visible could.

“Sakura-chan, there’s no need for that. This is my natural hair color and look, you know? The effortless bedhead thing. I mean, why mess with perfection. Between 27 and 37 year-old perfection!”

“Well, that range is probably the closest thing to a truthful personal detail I’ll ever get from you so I guess let’s just cut the bullshit and get to practice. What hell do you have in store for me today, _sensei_?”

Kakashi took a minute to survey his temporary pupil. After a week following some of Gai’s lighter training regimens, Sakura looked sufficiently exhausted as she stood before him at their go-to park’s outdoor court, a hand on her hip. He made sure to observe her as clinically as possible, making short work of noting the way her body seemed more weighed down by gravity than when they started. Indeed, while Sakura tried not to show it, she was tired. Good.

“You’re going to meditate.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. I had plenty of time to meditate while I was waiting an hour and a half for your late ass to show up!”

“Oh, good, then you must be an expert!”

Sakura’s jaw dropped. The audacity of this guy… She couldn’t believe it. How was she supposed to find any sort of peace with this pain in the ass trying to get a rise out of her every other minute? She’d never meditated before, not successfully. With a Type A personality, Sakura was a doer who thrived on maintaining a packed, busy schedule with little time to think. After all, usually the more time she had to sit around and just think, the worse it was, as loneliness, self-destructive and intrusive thoughts, or just general anxiousness would set in and have her even more wired and stressed out than she was before her supposed “down time.” So this would prove to be quite the challenge.

“… What do I have to do?”

Kakashi eye smiled at her, clearly pleased that his stubborn student was finally giving him a chance.

“Sit down in the grass behind the hoop.”

Sakura silently walked over and plopped down in what appeared to be a comfortable and dry patch of grass.

“Now close your eyes and focus on the sound of my voice.”

She reluctantly did as instructed.

“Take a deep breath in and out. Focus on your breathing and try to keep it slow, in through your nose and out through your mouth. You’re an athlete who likes medical things, so think of your body and each specific part. Take stock of yourself, noticing where there’s pain or tension. Be aware of your physical form grounding you like an anchor. Continue taking deep breaths, and with each one imagine your body feeling heavier and heavier, like you’re a cement block in the ocean that’s sinking down. Let yourself sink.”

Something about his voice was so calming and somehow familiar. It was funny, in this moment she found that she trusted him more than ever, and wasn’t feeling her usual annoyance. Sakura couldn’t help but enjoy the timbre of his voice, letting Kakashi’s smooth, deep voice and soothing tone lull her body and mind into a state of relaxation. She was shocked to find that all of his conditioning earlier in the week had naturally made her body feel tired and heavier, so it was easy to follow his direction and let gravity pull her down. She so rarely did this, just let things happen instead of trying to take control and make them happen. It was honestly kind of freeing.

“Good,” the sound of Kakashi’s voice suddenly so close to her ear made Sakura shiver and almost open her eyes. When did he get so close? How did he get there so quickly? Why did he smell so good and manly? What else could she get him to praise her for? Oh, crap. Sakura imagined she was a baseball player batting these intrusive and borderline inappropriate thoughts away.

“You suddenly got tense there. That’s alright, just let it go. Let intrusive thoughts wander in and out, allowing them to happen, but always pulling yourself back to your body, using your breath as an anchor.”

Kakashi’s voice got a little further away as he walked around. Sakura let out of a relieved breath before zoning back into her physical state and focusing on her breathing. In, out, in out. Thoughts about her suspension, her team, school, the pressure she put on herself to succeed, Sasuke, all of it floating in and out of her consciousness in a way that made her light. She was in control by not being in control. What a novel feeling.

“You’re doing great, Sakura.” The sound of his voice suddenly right in front of her, paired with hearing her own name come from his lips in what was basically a soothing whisper, completely threw Sakura for a loop, derailing the meditative train she’d been riding and making her whole body tense. She could feel an exhale through Kakashi’s mask when he sighed.

“Come on, Sakura, get back on track, you tensed up again all of a sudden.” Suddenly, Sakura felt big, warm, and callused hands on her shoulders. Oh Kami, oh crap. Sakura could feel Inner swooning and making lecherous comments trying to egg her on to do… honestly who knows what, but it’d definitely be something she’d regret.

Sakura’s eyes snapped open, staring at her interim sensei, who was crouching (in the joggers that only highlighted his surprising great ass) right in front on her, his dark eyes – one bruised, one scarred, both somehow sexy – staring right into her own as his strong hands continue to lightly press down on her shoulders. She couldn’t do it anymore, she was more aware of Kakashi as a man than ever before and with that kind of revelation, there was no way she’d be able to feel anything closed to relaxed in his presence any time soon. With a gasp, Sakura wrenched herself backwards, creating several feet of distance between her and a very confused-looking Kakashi, who was still crouching on the ground.

“You were doing pretty well, what happened there?”

Sheepishly scratching the back of her neck, Sakura let out a shrill laugh, feeling her face burn to match her hair.

“Haha, I guess I just really wasn’t feeling it, I honestly don’t know what happened. You know, maybe I just haven’t run enough. Yeah, that’s it. I just have way too much energy. How about I do some more of Gai’s training, maybe even take it to the next level, eh?”

Kakashi could only stare at his student in complete incomprehension. Why would anyone who wasn’t Lee _volunteer_ to do one of Gai’s workout, and even crazier, to kick it up a notch? From his perspective, everything seemed to be going better than he’d even expected when suddenly Sakura freaked out. Before he could say anything else, Sakura had already begun her laps.

Kakashi thought back over the last few minutes of attempted meditation. For a supposed genius, he really was horrible at interacting with and understanding other people, especially girls. Maybe it was because he touched her? He hissed out a breath. Of course it was because he touched her. She had repeatedly made it clear that she hated him, or at the very least found him insufferable. Plus, they were still practically strangers after he continued to refuse to disclose anything about themselves. So of course she wouldn’t want him touching her. Kakashi felt like an idiot. Watching her go harder with her laps, push-ups, and sit-ups than she had all week, Kakashi resolved to make it up to her. Sakura seemed to be a good person and also like she was trying to turn over a new leaf and move forward. He supposed he could at least attempt the same.

That was how Kakashi found himself making sure Sakura got home okay about an hour and a half later. After completely exhausting herself, the pink haired basketball player staggered home, literally swaying on her feet. For most other people, Kakashi probably would have been long gone, but he really felt he owed it to her to help make sure she didn’t pass out on the sidewalk or something on her walk back, especially since she’d run herself into the ground like this largely because of him and his thoughtless action.

“You really don’t have to escort me home _sensei_. You don’t seem like the gentlemanly type, after all,” forcing a laugh and emphasizing “sensei,” Sakura tried her best to put as much distance between herself and Kakashi through that title since she physically couldn’t dredge up the energy to actually outpace him in any way. Why had she worked herself this hard? And why was he going the extra mile to literally go an extra mile out of his way and walk with her? She had to get away from him, dammit, before she did anything crazy like rip off his mask or beg him to show her what’s hiding underneath that Konoha sweatshirt.

_Shit. I’m turning into a pervert. And for this guy, no less. Great._

**Don’t worry. We were always a pervert.**

Choosing to ignore Inner Sakura’s oh-so-comforting reassurance, Sakura continued to drag herself in the direction of her apartment, trying her best to pretend like 27 to 37 year-old mystery man Kakashi Hatake wasn’t walking next her.

“Oh, no, it’s no problem. I’m actually just walking to a restaurant I like that happens to be this way, that’s all. Don’t worry about it.”

Kakashi kept a few feet in between them but still left a watchful eye on Sakura, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable again, but also hoping to be there to catch her in case her legs gave out and she fell. He chuckled a bit when Sakura only sighed defeatedly in response. It was obvious to both of them that he was lying, but the dumb excuse seemed to at least lower a little bit of the awkwardness and tension radiating from Sakura.

They trudged on in silence until, finally, Sakura made it to her building. She couldn’t stop herself from groaning when she remembered the stairs she’d have to climb to get to her place on the third floor. Fully expecting Kakashi to have left already, she began her ascent and was shocked to see the silver-haired man still floating in her peripheral.

“Umm, this is my building.” Sakura tried to brush the man off, but Kakashi was never one to adhere to social cues.

“How nice. Let me just make sure the stairs are working.”

Letting out a disbelieving laugh, Sakura just shook her head and continued pulling herself up the steps, clutching onto the railing for dear life as she hissed with each step up. The steps were working, alright, but her body barely was. She continued upwards at a pace even her grandparents would’ve laughed at and all the while, Kakashi hovered like a specter behind her, not touching, but also present enough that he’d catch her if she passed out or fell down the steps. It was oddly comforting. She shouldn’t let herself get comfortable. With a newfound determination, Sakura continued on until finally she made it to her door.

“Home sweet home,” she announced wearily, hoping that now, finally, he’d take the hint. Instead she got a question she wasn’t expecting.

“Do you have roommates?” 

“Um, no, just me.” Kakashi frowned. If she had roommates, he would have happily left her at the door and been on his merry way, but now he found himself having a conundrum. He knew more than most what it was like to live and be alone. He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, but he also wanted to make sure he did right by her as a temporary teacher, even if it was just this one time. So with that, he made up his mind.

“Alright, well, in we go.”

“We?!” Sakura screeched. No, no, no, he couldn’t come in. What if she’d left empty wine bottles on the counter? Or her underwear on the floor? Or worst of all… her vibrator, somewhere out in the open? Yeah, his brief moment of chivalry was cute at first but she had to shut this down now before Inner took hold enough to let her get frisky.

But it was too late. By the time she’s turned the key, Kakashi was pushing his way in. While he looked calm and collected as he walked to her kitchen and opened up the freezer, Sakura was a ball of nervous energy as she flitted around as quickly as her sudden rush of adrenaline could push her in her achy and tired body. She’d made sure to clear the living room of anything embarrassing and shove it into her bedroom by the time Kakashi returned to her side with a few bags of ice.

“You went a bit too hard today, so let’s take off tomorrow and in the meantime you can put these where you’re most sore…”

Touched by his surprisingly thoughtful action, Sakura took a minute to realize that Kakashi had trailed off. Suddenly panicking that she’d left something embarrassing out, the Konoha captain whirled around to where his eyes were fixed behind her, only to sag with relief seeing that it was just her prized poster. Taking the ice from Kakashi’s hands before they fell to the ground, she turned back to look him in the eyes with a proud little grin.

“Jealous?”

“Is that… that is…”

“A signed poster of Obito Uchiha, that’s right. It’s probably the first thing I’d try to save if this place went up in flame.”

Kakashi was stunned and could barely form words as he stared at the poster before him.

“How did you get this?” Both Sakura and Kakashi were taken aback to hear how hoarse his voice suddenly was. Sakura couldn’t help but suddenly feel a little awkward about the one thing she was usually more than happy to show off, as her referee just stood there looking, for lack of a better term, _stricken_.

“I, uh, got it as a gift. He’s been my favorite player forever, you know, just the way he leads and always puts his team first is super inspiring to me. He’s easy on the eyes, too. But that’s not why I like him, obviously. His career was nothing short of prolific, sometimes I still watch reels of his top assists when I need some inspiration or motivation. And he’s actually kind of influenced my decision to pursue medicine, too. I mean, it’s crazy that the best player in the league and at the top of his game would just disappear into thin air, right? I’ve always thought that something happened to him, maybe an injury or general wear and tear he had too much pride to get healed and it all just caught up to him. That kind of thing is so common in sports, so if I could do something to prevent or postpone that, it’d be pretty helpful to a lot of people. Although I wish I could’ve been the one to help him…”

Realizing that she’d just spent minutes rambling about her idol to this man who probably couldn’t care less, Sakura flushed with embarrassment.

“Wow,” was all Kakashi could muster in response.

“Yeah I know, I’m crazy, I’m sorry for rambling like that, but hey, at least I didn’t start listing stats.”

At that, Kakashi laughed quietly. Sakura was unsurprised to find that she enjoyed the sound.

“He really means a lot to you, huh?”

“Well, yeah. But I’m one of many, I’m sure. Are you a fan too?”

“Ah, not really. I’ve never really followed pro sports.”

“I see,” Sakura said as she frowned a bit at his response. They stood there, Sakura looking at Kakashi, Kakashi looking at the poster, the poster framed and crisp and just suspended perfection frozen in time, for a quiet minute before Kakashi suddenly let his eyes dart back to Sakura’s.

“I wish you could have helped him too.”

“Maybe someday,” Sakura suggested with a soft smile that she could only assume Kakashi was returning under his mask by the soft look in his coal-colored eyes.

“Maybe.”

And with that, he was gone.

Covering herself in ice, Sakura groaned as she came to three realizations.

  * She had a crush on her annoying referee-slash-sensei
  * Their last week of one-on-one training was going to be fricking weird
  * Kakashi knew more than he was letting on about Obito Uchiha



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus content: KU Women's squad's second-hand home and away uniforms. Just some further evidence that ol' Danzou doesn't really care about aesthetics (this was clear on the show when he had way too many eyeballs jammed into his arm. Not cute, man). Or women.
> 
> Home uniform: https://ibb.co/pn1zbNf
> 
> Away uniform: https://ibb.co/z4MmKJ8


	11. The New Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the major delay! I went through a funk but am getting back in a groove and hope to write/update more often than I was last year. Anyway, whether you're just checking this out now or a returning reader, thanks so much for giving this story a shot or sticking with it. I hope you're all doing alright and staying healthy, and that this New Year is a hundred times better than the one that came before :)

Sakura’s suspension was over and that, according to Ino, was a cause for celebration. So that’s how Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Hinata ended up at The Hidden Leaf Bar, a Konoha University staple, on a Friday night to celebrate freedom after two weeks away from the team.

“Kanpai!” The girls clinked glasses before Sakura, Tenten, and Ino downed their sakes, and Hinata her Moscow Mule (her teammates joked that she was born to be a country club mom, and she had since learned to embrace this with only minimal embarrassment).

“We’re so happy to have you back, Sakura-chan,” Hinata directed towards her pink-haired friend.

“Although we barely felt your absence. We won the two games you missed, after all. Some captain _you_ are!” Sakura glared at Ino, while the blonde just smirked and flipped her ponytail over her shoulder.

“You were playing two of the worst teams of the league so you should consider yourself lucky you didn’t need me, Pig!” Tenten just laughed, used to the girls’ spats and stepped in without much trouble.

“We did miss you though, Sakura-chan. You make being captain look pretty easy but I was pretty strung out. I don’t know how you’re able to take on the brunt of Tsunade’s wrath like you do.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, Ms. Vice-Captain,” Sakura grumbled.

“As you should,” Tenten grinned before her smile dripped into something a little more lecherous. “But enough about us. What we _really_ want to know is how your special one-on-one training with Mr. Hot Ref went?”

Sakura could only groan in response, her head briefly falling into her hand in an attempt to hide her burgeoning blush at the mention of Kakashi.

“It was… dumb.” Ino cackled, pointing at her grumbling friend.

“She’s blushing! Forehead’s really blushing!”

“Shut up, I’m not. The training was just a bust, is all. He had me meditating, but I was always either too tense or too tired to accomplish anything.”

“Ooo, tired, he must’ve worked you reeeeaaalll hard!”

“Tenten, stop, not you too! It wasn’t anything untoward, okay, he just had me doing these insane workouts from Coach Gai—”

Tenten, who would always train with Coach Gai in the off-season, winced sympathetically at that.

“—and I guess he did it to help me chill out and be too tired to want to kick his ass, but man, he was still so annoying. Wouldn’t tell me anything about himself. Which is kind of awkward, right? Like if you’re working with someone for two weeks, you’d think you’d at least do some small talk.”

“But you don’t like small talk.”

“Well that’s not the point!” Sakura huffed, exasperated. There was a brief lull in the conversation as the girls all took in what had been said as the lively soundtrack of the packed bar buzzed in the background. Surprisingly, it was Hinata who broke the ice.

“But why were you tense?”

Sakura whipped her head to her friend, eyes bulging.

“What?”

“You said you were always either too tired or too tense. So why tense?”

Ino and Tenten started guffawing and hooting.

“You get a Moscow Mule in her and she starts asking the big questions!”

“Read her for filth, Hinata-chan!”

Sakura’s face flushed red. She knew she’d been caught. Hinata, as usual, could see right through them all and now she knew that she had to come clean. Maybe it was better to be open, anyway. Her friends could offer some insight on the situation. Or help her get over it. Maybe, possibly.

“I kinda like him, okay?”

“What was that? Forehead, move your hand from over your mouth so we can hear you!”

“I said that I kinda like him, jeez. But it’s just physical attraction, which is honestly pretty normal when you’re around a fit man every day, right?”

“Ooo, Sakura-chan has a crush!” Tenten cooed.

“I knew it,” Hinata nodded sagely.

“Hinata, no, come on, there’s nothing to ‘know,’ because I do _not_ have a crush, this is just like pheromones reacting and brain chemicals. I don’t even know anything about the guy, except that he doesn’t seem to follow professional sports, which is kind of boring.”

“He’s mysterious,” Hinata sighed.

“Elusive, obstinate, and evasive is more like it,” Sakura shot back. “But whatever. Yeah, him being so close to me or whatever had me kind of tense, but I don’t know him or particularly enjoy the guy’s company. I don’t intend on pursuing him or anything like that. I don’t really want to pound his face in anymore, though, so I guess that’s as good as this situation is gonna get,”

“No, instead you just want to be pounded by him.”

“Kami, Pig, you’re disgusting!”

Ino stuck out her tongue, as usual not feeling an ounce of shame regarding her words or actions.

“I’m not wrong though, am I? Why not just hit it once, get it out of your system. I think you more than anyone could definitely use a release in tension. I see the stress leaving lines on that big billboard brow of yours.”

“I’m not getting wrinkles,” Sakura shot back, only a little (lot) defensive as she quickly poked her own forehead to check for any errant lines and creases. “And anyway, he doesn’t seem interested at all, so there. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s asexual, the guy is so fricking aloof.”

“So just because he doesn’t like you, he’s asexual?”

“No, of course I’m not saying that. It’s just that the only thing he seems interested in are his stupid porn books.”

“Hm, well, maybe he’ll be more into me, what do you think, Forehead?”

“Absolutely not, Pig.”

“Why? Because he’s all yours?” Ino smirked.

“No, because he’s a referee and grown, annoying man so none of us should even be thinking of him like that.”

“Nothing wrong with looking, Sakura-chan! Plus, you thought of him like that first. Now you’re just being selfish,” Tenten pointed out, ending her statement with a little pout.

“I do _not_ have feelings—”

“Porn book?” Hinata cut in, either out of confusion or genuine curiosity.

“ _Icha Icha_ ,” Sakura muttered. Hinata nodded sagely.

“Ah, a man with taste. I approve.” The other girls just gaped at her.

“Hinata… no. What happened to our innocent friend?”

“It’s these Moscow Mules, I’m telling you. Look, she somehow snuck in a second one when we weren’t looking!”

“She’s only saying that because the author is her dear Naruto’s godfather and guardian, anyway.”

“T-that’s now true,” Hinata blushed. “I read a few at The Coffee Shop” – they refer to it as ‘The Coffee Shop’ because seriously, who wants to say ‘Icha-Itchin’ for Coffee’ aloud? – “and honestly thought they were quite good.”

“A FEW?!” screeched Ino. “She really has grown up, huh?”

“Oh man, enough of this, guys, we’ve gotten so off-track. I want to hear what’s going on with all of you. What’d I miss these last two weeks?” Sakura knew her attempt to change the subject was successful as she saw Ino grin at her like the Cheshire Cat. She could always count on her blonde frenemy to be all-in on a good gossip session.

“We absolutely crushed Frost and Rivers, but practices are gonna get super intense since our game with Sound is coming up next,” Tenten piped up. Ino scowled at the brunette and swatted at her shoulder lightly, which made Tenten laugh and swat back.

“She doesn’t care about that shit, Ten. We’re talking the _good stuff_. And boy do I have some news for you, Forehead. Although you’re not gonna like it.” Sakura narrowed her eyes.

“Spill.”

“Okay, so rumor has it, that your ex-infatuation hooked up with Mist University’s AD when our guys played at Mist last week.”

Sakura, who had unfortunately chosen that moment to take another drink of sake, immediately choked on her beverage.

“SASUKE SLEPT WITH MEI TERUMI?!”

Ino smirked.

“Allegedly.”

“Allegedly,” Sakura repeated numbly. “Wow.”  


“You okay, Sakura-chan?” Tenten asked, a little nervous that this admittedly hot goss would just be damaging to their friend who was only just beginning to truly put her infatuation for the gloomy and selfish Uchiha behind her. But, luckily, she was reminded that her friend is stronger than anyone ever gives her credit for when Sakura barked out a laugh.

“Looks like Scowl-suke has a thing for hot, strong women, eh Forehead?” Ino smirked, watching Sakura jovially swipe a tear from her eye.

“Seriously, we’d better hide Tsunade, she may be next!”

“Yeah right, she’d snap him like a twig if he even looked at her funny,” Tenten shot back.

“I’d pay to see Tsunade destroy Sasuke-san for how he treated you, Sakura-chan.”

Sakura gasped.

“Hinata-chan! You’d put money on the destruction of your own future husband’s best friend?! I’m touched!”

Hinata’s face scrunched into an adorable pout.

“Naruto-kun isn’t my anything.”

“It’s only a matter of time, my friend.”

Ino, every the busybody, leaned into Hinata’s space, shooting her a downright lecherous look.

“Yeah, seriously, Hinata, when are you gonna get on that? The guy’s an idiot. A good person and kinda hot and all but he’s got a skull thicker than Coach Asuma’s thighs!”

“Ewwww, Pig, he’s married and a father!”

“He’s a daddy, alright.”

Tenten laughed while Sakura and Hinata looked a bit disgusted at Ino’s unabashed perviness. Ino opened her mouth but before she could spout off anything else that could make Hinata’s nose bleed or Sakura throw a punch, Tenten cleared her throat and attempted to change the subject.

“Speaking of Asuma, though, Kurenai asked us the other day if any of us would be able to babysit for little Mirai tomorrow night!”

Sakura rolled her eyes.

“Amazing segue there, Ten.” Tenten puffed up her cheeks in indignation.

“Okay, smartass, can you babysit or not?”

“As long as Ino-Pig won’t be there. We’ve already established that this pervert shouldn’t be anywhere near Asuma and his home or, Kami forbid, child,”

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious, Forehead. You forget that we used to train together and I’ve been there before. Plus, I’m Ino Yamanaka, I can go anywhere I want, wherever I want!”

The rest of the girls rolled their eyes, causing Ino to _harrumph_.

“Whatever, you all suck. And you’re in luck, anyway, Forehead, because I can’t make it tomorrow.”

“Hot date?” Sakura asked.

“I hear your sarcasm and I’m ignoring it because yes, in fact, I do have a hot date. Obviously.”

“Even if you didn’t, don’t you hate kids?” Tenten asked. Ino just glared back.

“Yeah, but Mirai is one of the more tolerable ones, I guess.”

“Your warm heart continues to wow me, Pig. Have fun with Tinder boy number 304—”

“He’s only number 85, just FYI. And don’t look at me like that, if anything, you should be revering me for being able to score so many free meals and outings. The guys are sometimes alright too, I guess,” Ino cut in. Sakura ignored her.

“Hinata-chan, what about you?”

“Ah, I’ll actually be busy as well.”

“Family outing?” Tenten guessed, a dreamy smile on her face.

“I’ll tell Neji you say hi,” Hinata shot back with a small smile, causing Tenten to blush a bit (even though the two had already been dating for two years now, but hey, that’s young love for ya).

“Looks like it’ll just be you and me, Sakura-chan! It’ll be fun! Let’s meet for dinner before and then head over to the Sarutobi’s together.”

“Sounds like a plan to me, I’m excited! Plus, it’s always nice to make some cash, I’m seriously broke right now,” Sakura said, grumbling a bit at the end as she mourned her light wallet. Since taking on captain duties in addition to her heavy coursework and regular basketball commitments, she’d had to quit her part-time gig at the local bookstore. She loved kids, and was even happier to get paid to hang out with them. It was just an added bonus that one of her best friends would be there too.

From there, the four chattered on, gabbing about everything from schoolwork to the latest shows they were bingeing. Worn out from the week and eager to prep for tomorrow’s date, Ino headed home first, Tenten leaving with her, since the two were roommates and the blonde would need a little help wobbling home after having a little too much to drink. Sakura and Hinata spent some time chatting just the two of them before deciding to head out not too long after, wrapping their coats tightly around themselves as they stepped out into the biting late fall weather to head to their respective homes.

Shuffling down the path that would eventually diverge and lead the two friends their separate ways, Sakura stretched her arms above her head, reaching up towards the almost-full moon that gleamed in the darkened Konoha sky.

“Hinata-chan.”

Eyes nearly closed, weighed down by the warm buzz of alcohol, Hinata hummed in response.

“I really do hope you confess to Naruto soon. Of course we’re all rooting for you two, but it’s because we really do think that it’ll work out. He’s a bit of a doof but once he knows how you feel, I know he’ll give you a chance. How could anyone not love Hinata Hyuga?”

Hinata smiled a bit ruefully.

“You’d have to ask my dad,” she muttered. Sakura lightly swatted Hinata’s arm in response, trying, in her very Sakura way, to lovingly knock the sadness and self-doubt right out of her.

“Hey, hey, Hinata, no offense but the guy’s kind of a prick and he’s always treated you unfairly. It’s no reflection on you or your worth.” Sakura clenched her fists. “But if you need a gal to kiss his ass, just say the word and I’ll be there! SHANNARO!” There was a beat of silence before Hinata burst out laughing, causing Sakura to huff a bit because ‘Hey I was being serious!’

“Thank you for that, Sakura-chan, but please don’t assault my father. I understand what you’re saying though, and it’s something I’ve been trying to improve at. But I appreciate you and the other girls a lot. And I know that I need to just tell Naruto how I feel, but…”

Suddenly, it was like looking at Hinata-of-old for a second as Sakura watched the girl fall briefly back into her habit of nervously pushing her pointer fingers together while staring at the ground.

“It’s scary, isn’t it?” Sakura finished for her, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I get it. Don’t force yourself for our sakes, but just know that we’re in your corner.”

Hinata snapped out of her finger-pushing and shot Sakura a soft smile.

“I know.”

The two walked in companionable silence until the road forked, causing them to stop and bid each other goodbye and goodnight before Hinata headed right towards the Hyuga estate and Sakura turned left towards her apartment complex. Sakura sighed contentedly before looking back up at the moon. I

t was nice to be back amongst friends and to be able to play the sport she loved again. Hopefully this marked the return to normalcy and she could put the insanity that had begun her final KU basketball season behind her. After all, there had already been more than enough drama to last her through the rest of the year. But even so, Sakura had a feeling that things returning to normal wouldn’t mean that they’d be the way they were before, and she was eager to see just what this new normal would be. 


	12. A Blast From the Past

If these were the so-called “Terrible Twos,” then maybe having a kid wouldn’t be too bad.

Unlike Ino, Sakura genuinely liked kids and hoped to have some of her own one day. Not soon, because she had a career and dream to pursue, but eventually she figured it would happened if things came together for her. Even if she didn’t have a man by her side, Sakura would happily still become a mother on her own. Still, as someone studying medicine and the human body, she knew the realities of how difficult and exhausting kids could be in accordance with what stage of growth and development they happened to be in, which was why she found herself pleasantly surprised by two year-old Mirai Sarutobi.

With thick, dark hair and piercing red eyes, the little girl definitely physically took more after her mother, but when it came down to personality, she seemed to be a perfect blend of the two. The little girl was as composed as her mother and good-natured as her father, but took it to the next level with an extra level of bubbly friendliness that endeared her to everyone she met. Even Ino loved her, although she still was a little ticked off by Mirai’s clear favoritism towards Shikamaru, but she hoped the little girl would grow out of it eventually.

Babytsitting her in the Sarutobi household had been a breeze, and Tenten and Sakura genuinely enjoyed themselves as they played everything from hide and seek to “dodge the weapon” (where Tenten would throw pillows and stuffed animals while Sakura and Mirai would run around like headless chickens trying to avoid them) until they were all worn out. It was easy to get Mirai to bed after that, and by 9pm that night Tenten and Sakura were relaxing on the couch trying to toss grapes from Asuma and Kurenai’s fridge (hey, the Sarutobis _told_ the girls they could eat whatever they wanted and make themselves at home, so it was fine) into each others’ mouths to kill time waiting for the toddler’s parents to come home from a night out. Suddenly, Tenten’s phone started buzzing, causing the grape Sakura had just launched her way to bounce off her cheek and onto the floor.

“Aw, boo, you coulda caught that!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tenten waved Sakura off as she looked down at her phone to find several texts from Neji sent in quick succession.

“Ah, shit,” the brunette sighed. “Gai took Lee out and I guess they accidentally swapped drinks, now Lee’s wasted and, well, you know how he gets.” Sakura winced.

“Has he knocked anyone out yet?”

“Two knockouts, five broken chairs, and three shattered glass cups so far. Neji was still with his family when Gai called him in a panic, crying about how his precious pupil was on a rampage and it was all his fault.”

“Oof, yikes, yeah, you’d better go help take him home.”

“You sure it’s okay if I leave you?”

Sakura waved dismissively.

“Of course. Mirai’s asleep and at this point we’re just sitting around doing nothing, so it’s no problem. I’ll get you your half of the money tomorrow at practice.”

Tenten’s chest heaved a relieved sigh before giving Sakura a quick peck on the cheek.

“You’re the best, Sakura, I owe ya one!”

“You’re fine, Ten. Good luck!”

And with that, Tenten was rushing out the door, leaving Sakura to pick up their discarded grapes and then settle back onto the couch to think about how to kill time on her own. Powering on the Sarutobi’s television and turning it to a volume low enough to be heard without disturbing Mirai, Sakura flicked through channels mindlessly until her curiosity got the best of her and she decided to see what the couple had saved up in their DVR.

Sakura scrolled through various action, romance, documentary movies and shows and more until something finally caught her eye. Deep, deep in the DVR’s queue was a saved re-run of a basketball game from 20 years ago. Konoha High School vs. Stone High School. Not only was the game notable because it was the finals of the National Tournament, but also because it was Obito Uchiha’s last game before being the youngest player ever lifted into the pros at the age of 16. This game was hard to find and was, in fact, one Sakura had never before seen in full, so she wasted no time in pressing play and leaning forward, eager to see some of the rare Obito content she (his self-proclaimed Number One Fan) somehow had never seen before.

Even though she was expecting it, it was still jarring to see the teenage faces of Gai, Asuma, Genma, and Yamato as they were announced to the starting lineup for the game. Last off the Konoha bench and to much fanfare was number 21, Obito Uchiha, whose young face was devoid of both wrinkles and expression as he got up to join the rest of his team at center court. While Sakura had always known her favorite player to be particularly intense, it was still a shock to see the look in his eye that even this grainy old footage could convey clearly. The young man looked like he was out for blood, like this game was personal.

The camera panned quickly over a concerned-looking Minato Namikaze, the Konoha team’s head coach, while the team’s manager stood next to him, looking either deeply upset or like she was in pain. It was hard to tell. All Sakura knew is that they both seemed to be staring in Obito’s direction and that she’d never seen any of _this_ footage before. She was utterly fascinated. Obito Uchiha was one of the best basketball players her side of the world had ever known, and yet no one seemed to know anything about him. He was elusive and secretive, but people seemed to give him a pass, chalking it up to the eccentricism that only the best of the best were allowed, even though they were still left frustrated and annoyed by the whole mystery of the man. 

Sakura, who had looked up to Obito her whole life, had spent much of her childhood projecting onto Obito (which she continued to do with an Uchiha or two after that), using his blankness to see him as whatever she wanted him to be. She knew he was a team player and incredible at what he did, but it was hard to tell much more.

She’d always hypothesized that he was shy and had anxiety, so he shut down in the face of all the attention, but that she would be the one to somehow bring it out of him. She was sure that if they ever met, they’d get along. But when he retired and disappeared, that dream of hers died. No one could find the retired star, and it was clear he wanted to keep it that way. Well, fine. Obito Uchiha had inspired Sakura to become who she was as a player and maybe even a little as a person, but her future was her own to shape. Still, she admired him for the player he was and would never turn down an opportunity to see him play.

Sakura had only ever seen the highlights but the full game was, for lack of a better term, ruthless. Obito singlehandedly decimated Stone’s defense and clamped down on their offense. This was known to be one of (if not _the_ ) best starting fives in Konoha High School history, and yet everyone else on the team faded away in the face of this 16 year-old’s singlehanded massacre of one of the best teams in the nation. Even Gai could barely keep up. Sakura found herself moving closer and closer to the TV without even realizing it, absolutely riveted. This wasn’t a basketball game. This was… something personal. Just watching it felt almost like intruding on something intimate. This was between Obito and Stone.

With a shiver, Sakura leaned back and took a breath as she watched the camera pan from Konoha’s bench, where Minato and the manager continued to look shaken up despite their team’s insane lead, to Konoha’s side of the court, where Stone was set up in a triangle and two defense, meaning that three players were defending zone, while the other two were basically just supposed to stick to Obito like glue, as if that would be enough to stop him. The two Stone players seemed to be taking extra jabs at Obito when the refs weren’t looking, and even talking some shit at him while on both sides of the court; Never did he react or so much as have a muscle on his smooth face twitch out of place.

And yet…

The camera showed the two defenders yapping their big mouths. There was only a handful of minutes left in the game and Konoha was winning by nearly 40 points, so one would think that Stone would be beaten down enough to just want the game to be over. And yet... the two continued to seem to egg Konoha’s star on. Sakura didn’t know why they were wasting their breath, she’d never seen the Uchiha lose his cool or so much as blink in the face of the many threats, provocations, and jostles he’d received throughout the duration of his professional career.

But this wasn’t the pros, and the player was still, deep down, just a kid. So Sakura shouldn’t have been as surprised as she was when she saw Obito rear back and punch one of the defenders as hard as he could. The Stone player dropped immediately, causing Obito to turn to the other one and similarly knock his lights out, his body language radiating aggression and making clear that he was completely out of control. He looked like a rabid animal that would mindlessly attack the next person to catch his attention, regardless of whether they were friend or foe. Sakura had never seen this before, and all she could feel was utter shock and fear. She’d never seen anything like that before, and on top of that, for it to be someone you idolized and thought you knew do something so out of character and unhinged, it was genuinely scary.

There was a beat that felt like an eternity where no one on the court dared to so much as breathe before all hell broke loose and Coach Namikaze was grabbing Obito, holding him back in a restraining embrace as the boy tried to lunge away. The game’s announcers sounded flustered and had no idea what to do. Stone players had to be stopped from trying to retaliate. The whole thing was a free-for-all, but before it could escalate further, the entire recording cut out. Sakura wasn’t sure if the Sarutobis just didn’t want to see any more or if the broadcast itself had cut out entirely, but before she could rewind to investigate, the front doorknob started to jiggle and she was hastily flicking off the TV and grabbing her stuff to greet the couple that was finally returning home after their night out.

“Woah! Sakura-san, you scared the shit out of me!” Asuma clutched his heart at the open front door where Sakura just so happened to be bent in front of as she slid her ankle boots on. Straightening, she laughed sheepishly and gave the older man a slight bow.

“Sorry about that Coach Asuma, I heard you guys at the door and thought I’d get myself ready.” Asuma just waved her off with one hand while the other took a slow drag of the cigarette between his lips.

“It’s fine, I’d be surprised if you didn’t hear us. We got a little more rowdy than usual tonight,” he trailed off with a chuckle, looking behind him. Sakura followed his eyes until she caught sight of a larger group at the base of the Sarutobi’s front stoop steps.

Kurenai was crouched in front of Yamato, who looked absolutely obliterated and just barely conscious, his head lulling to the side as he babbled to himself about the various types of fauna native to Konoha. While she was busy trying and failing to talk to him and asking him if he wanted any water or pain medication, Genma was Yamato’s side, drawing something that Sakura could only assume was inappropriate, offensive, embarrassing, or all of the above, onto his wasted friend’s cheek. Kakashi sat next to Yamato on the steps but lounged back looking more boneless and relaxed than Sakura had ever seen him, staring up at the sky with a glazed look in his eye.

It was clear that everyone in the party was tipsy at the very least, or at worst (Yamato), was absolutely trashed and going to be feeling the pain in the morning.

“Was it Yamato-san’s birthday or something? Or were you just trying to kill him?”

Asuma huffed a gruff laugh at his babysitter’s questions.

“We were celebrating Kakashi’s actually. Wanted to get him drunk but that weasel agreed to take shots on the condition that Yamato matched him. Hatake’s tolerance is pretty high so it didn’t take long for Yamato to get wrecked.”

“Poor Yamato-san,” Sakura lamented before glaring at Kakashi, sure the punk knew his friend’s low tolerance and was just messing with him for the fun of it. As if sensing eyes on him, the masked man lazily looked up over his shoulder until he caught eyes with his former-student before squinting them into what could pass as a smile.

“Yo, Sakura-chan. This isn’t your house.” Sakura shot him a withering look before turning to Asuma.

“I guess he wasn’t completely unaffected, huh,” Asuma nodded sagely.

“A man’s tolerance can only be so high.” With a light laugh, the young woman rearranged her bag.

“Oh, before I forget, Tenten had to head out after we put Mirai to bed, something came up—”

“With Lee, I know, that’s why we’re missing Gai right now too. I know how the kid gets so it’s no problem. Thank you both for your help, we appreciate it.”

“Of course, thanks for asking us. Mirai is the best so we had a blast.”

“She didn’t give you any trouble?”

“She was perfect,” Asuma leveled Sakura with a contemplative look before sighing and grumbling to himself, “I see, then she saves it all for her old man, huh.” Sakura just laughed. She really liked the Sarutobi family and appreciated seeing that they could raise a kid and work hard while still having fun and enjoying themselves. _I guess love can do a lot, huh_ , she thought to herself only a little forlornly. Before spiraling into thoughts of “What is love anyway?” and “Will I ever feel that?” Sakura figured that now was the time to beat it.

“Here you are,” Asuma handed Sakura two envelopes of cash, her and Tenten’s respective pay for the night. She grinned up at the man and saluted.

“Thanks Coach, I’ll be off!” Before she could bound down the steps, Asuma called down to his wife.

“Kurenai! Would you want to walk Sakura-san home? Or I can do it? It’s pretty late, so—”

Before Sakura could protest that she was an adult and could make it home alone alright despite their extremely thoughtful offer, Kakashi was standing and raising his hand like a schoolboy.

“I’ll walk Sakura-chan.”

“Uh, well, if you’re sure, Hatake…” Asuma looked warily at his friend, who he’d never known to volunteer himself for much of anything.

“She _is_ my favorite student after all, it’s no problem,” Sakura rolled her eyes.

“I’m not your student, old man.” Genma cackled at that. Kurenai just sighed.

“Alright, Kakashi you can walk with Sakura and Genma, quit your laughing and help poor Yamato get home instead of drawing on him, alright? I swear, Mirai is more of an adult that all of you combined.”

“Erven meee?” slurred Yamato.

“Yes.”

“Even me?” asked Asuma.

“Especially you,” Kurenai rolled her eyes while her husband pouted.

“Alright everyone, let’s get moving. Thanks for a great night, and happy birthday, Kakashi,” Kurenai said as she marched up her steps, provoking a chorus of “Happy Birthdays” before everyone headed their separate ways. Before Sakura knew it, she was headed home next to a more slouched and ruffled than usual Kakashi, walking a few minutes in silence before she decided to break it.

“It’s your birthday?”

“It _was_ my birthday… two months ago,” he said it so casually that Sakura spluttered, eyes widening at the nonchalant fool beside her.

“Two months?! Do they know that?” Kakashi huffed a laugh. It was low and pleasant in a way that made Sakura shiver.

“I never told them my birthday but they figured it out eventually. I find it kind of awkward being the center of attention so I try to dodge my birthday celebration ‘til they trap me for it. You cold?”

“I’m fine!” she said way too quickly. Kakashi hummed in response. “You know, Hatake, you’re a lot easier to talk to when you’re wasted.” Kakashi stopped suddenly, leaning into her space.

“Are you trying to take _advantage_ of me, Sakura-chan?” Sakura’s breath hitched as she just stared at his suddenly-too close half-face but before she could say anything, Kakashi leaned back and whined, “and call me Kakashi-sensei, we’ve been over this!” Sakura groaned.

“Whatever, Kakashi- _sensei_. And I would do no such think. I’m a lady.” While Kakashi stood with a slight sway, mulling over the validity of that statement, Sakura lurched forward and attempted to yank off Kakashi’s mask. Before she could really realize what had happened, he’d grabbed her wrist and pulled her in close, crouching a little so they were eye-level with one another, his own gleaming almost dangerous under the dim Konoha streetlights and stars.

“So you _are_ trying to take advantage of me. That’s not very lady-like, _Sakura_.” Completely caught off-guard by both his quickness and the way he said her name, Sakura stumbled backwards out of his loose grip, her jaw slack. With a small snort, Kakashi shook his head and just kept walking, leaving Sakura to catch up.

“Seriously though, why the mask?” Sakura stammered, the frustration bleeding out into her question.

“It bothers you that much, huh?”

“As if!” she protested a little too quickly.

“Right,” Kakashi sighed. “Well, it has to stay. Sorry.” Sakura pouted, pursing her lips and crossing her arms.

“You don’t sound that sorry. How can you even move that fast anyway, I thought you were supposed to be drunk?”

“Maa, I guess I was a bit of an athlete back in my day, too,” Kakashi scratched under his masked chin.

“Really? What’s you do? What level did you play at? Were you on a team I would’ve heard of?”

“I played a sport at a high level for an official team.” Sakura frowned.

“That gives me nothing, old man!” Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows.

“You shouldn’t ask so many questions about me, Sakura-chan, it’ll be bad for your health.” 

“But can you at least tell me about—”

“Oh what do you know, we’re already here!” And in fact, they were. The two came to a stop right outside of Sakura’s apartment complex. Sakura couldn’t believe that they’d already made it, that it really took _that long_ to wrangle a semblance of a personal detail out of Kakashi Hatake. Jeez.

“You’re a real pain in my ass, you know,” she grumbled, trudging up the stairs to her apartment..

“Thanks Sakura-chan! Have a good night!” Kakashi’s eyes closed into a smile as he held up a hand to bid the annoyed girl farewell.

By the time she reached her door and turned back to flip him off or curse him out, he was already gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be trying my best to update a little more regularly/frequently from here on out! Hope you're all well and that you enjoy the chapter. Thanks again for the comments, kudos, and bookmarks, it all motivates me to keep this train a-rollin'! And it's only chugging along faster from here :)


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